$Unique_ID{COW02707}
$Pretitle{294N}
$Title{Oceania
Chapter 1C.   Era of European Discovery}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Robert C. Kiste}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{new
pacific
islands
first
australia
britain
island
british
zealand
established}
$Date{1984}
$Log{}
Country:     Oceania
Book:        Oceania, An Area Study: Introduction
Author:      Robert C. Kiste
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1984

Chapter 1C.   Era of European Discovery

     By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese had
established themselves in the East Indies, maintaining trading posts at
Malacca on the Malay Peninsula, the Moluccas (Spice Islands; present-day
Maluku Islands in Indonesia), and a few other locations. They arrived at
these distant outposts by voyaging around the Cape of Good Hope, up the east
coast of Africa, and east across the Indian Ocean, bringing them to the edge
of, but not into, the insular Pacific.

     Seeking to challenge Portugal's hold on the East Indies, Spain sought
alternate routes to the area as well as another potential prize. As far back
as the sixth century B.C., it had been posited that the world was a globe
and that there was a great landmass on the southern part that gave balance
to the northern landforms. Armchair geographers had come to call the unseen
southern continent Terra Australis Incognita. For Christopher Columbus and
others centuries later, the two Americas represented barriers to a western
route from Europe to the East Indies and the southern continent.

     Like Columbus, Magellan was convinced that there was a route around the
Americas, and, finding only skepticism at home, he eventually led an
expedition from Spain. He sailed around the southern tip of South America and
through the strait that now bears his name. He proceeded from southeast to
northwest across the Pacific and reached Guam in 1521. Magellan pushed on
farther westward and discovered the Philippines, where he was killed in an
encounter with the indigenous people. His voyage demonstrated the immense size
of the Pacific, and his crew continued homeward to complete the first
circumnavigation of the earth.

     The Spanish failed to dislodge the Portuguese in the East Indies, but
they eventually took possession of the Philippines in 1565. To link the
Philippines to the motherland, a trans-Pacific route was established from
Manila to Acapulco, Mexico, overland to the Caribbean, and on to Spain.

     During the remainder of the sixteenth century, the Spanish and Portuguese
were the dominant explorers in the region. Representatives of both countries
sighted and claimed the large landmass of New Guinea. Sailing to the Peruvian
port of Callao, the Spaniard Alvaro de Mendana de Neira discovered the Solomon
Islands in the late 1560s. Attempting to retrace his voyage, he sailed again
from Callao in 1595. He discovered the Marquesas Islands-the first inhabited
Polynesian islands seen by Europeans.

     Mendana did not live to see the end of his voyage, and his command passed
to his chief pilot, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, who became obsessed with
finding the southern continent. Setting sail in 1605, he traveled through the
Tuamotus, which were of little interest to him, and went on to discover the
New Hebrides Islands, which he wrongly identified as the sought-after
continent. Quiros returned to Mexico, but his own chief pilot, Luis Vaez de
Torres, sailed from Manila after passing along the southern coast of New
Guinea through what is now called the Torres Strait. His voyage demonstrated
that New Guinea is an island and not part of the undiscovered continent.

     By 1602 the Dutch had replaced the Portuguese in the East Indies, and
during the seventeenth century they made the major explorations in the
Pacific. The Dutch United East India Company monopolized trade in the
Indies, and its investors tended to be conservative. Where the Spanish and
Portuguese had been adventurers seeking gold, new lands, and souls for the
glory of church and state, the Dutch were primarily pragmatic entrepreneurs
searching for new trade routes and new markets.

     In 1606 Dutch navigators discovered northern Australia whale exploring
the southern coast of New Guinea. Several exploratory voyages sponsored by
the company in the 1620s and 1630s helped to map the northern and western
coasts of Australia, which they called New Holland. They did not establish
with certainty, however, that all the territory explored formed part of the
long-sought-after southern continent. In 1642 Captain Abel Tasman sailed
around the southern coast of Australia and encountered the island now known
as Tasmania. Continuing around Australia, he discovered New Zealand, Tonga,
and parts of Fiji early the next year. Tasman was the first European navigator
to enter the Pacific from the west; he was also the first to make a complete
circuit around Australia. After a second voyage in 1644, Tasman had
contributed more knowledge about the Pacific than any other European up to his
time.

     During the latter part of the seventeenth century, the Dutch concentrated
on their business concerns, and although voyages to New Guinea and western
Australia occurred, no vigorous exploratory effort was pursued. After Tasman's
voyages, no major discoveries were made in the South Pacific until the voyage
of another Dutchman, Admiral Jacob Roggeveen, about 80 years later. Roggeveen,
who was not affiliated with the Dutch United East India Company, discovered
exotic Easter Island, part of the Tuamotus, and the Samoa Islands in 1722. His
efforts were not appreciated by the Dutch; instead, Roggeveen was accused
of having trespassed on the company's monopoly. His discoveries rekindled
interest in Pacific geography and exploration elsewhere.

     Much of that interest, however, was carried on by armchair geographers
in Europe. The reports and maps from previous expeditions were subjected to
scrutiny and debate in academia. The Dutch had not freely shared the results
of their explorations, and for others the uncertainty about Terra Australis
Incognita remained.

     Beginning in 1764 the tempo of actual exploration in the Pacific gained
momentum, and within a relatively short time a series of voyages by four
Englishmen and one Frenchman occurred. Douglas L. Oliver, a dean of Pacific
anthropology, has described the period as one in which Oceania geography was
transformed from a speculative into an exact science. Between 1764 and 1769
the three English captains John Byron, Samuel Wallis, and Philip Carteret
made significant voyages of exploration. Wallis discovered Tahiti; Carteret
sailed over much unexplored but vacant ocean, thereby eliminating many of the
areas where the southern continent might possibly have been located.

     In an effort to challenge the British and restore prestige that had been
damaged by events in Europe, the Frenchman Louis Antoine de Bougainville was
instructed to circumnavigate the globe. Bougainville followed Wallis to
Tahiti. Thereafter, he proceeded to the Samoa Islands. His next landfalls were
the islands of the New Hebrides, New Guinea, and the Solomons.

     Although Bougainville's accomplishments were considerable, the
eighteenth-century voyages of exploration in the Pacific were dominated by the
British, Captain James Cook proving to be the most formidable of them all.
Cook made three voyages-the first in 1768-71 and the others in 1772-75 and
1776-79. Although all of Cook's accomplishments cannot be recounted here, he
further explored the Society Islands during his first voyage and surveyed the
coasts of New Zealand and most of the eastern coast of Australia. During the
second voyage he came close to Antarctica, discovered Niue, New Caledonia, and
Norfolk Island, and charted new islands in the Tuamotus, Cooks, and Marquesas.
His third voyage took Cook along the American northwest coast and Alaska in
search of the hoped-for northwest passage. Among other discoveries, Cook came
upon the Hawaiian Islands; it was there that he met his death in 1779.

     The era of major exploration and new discoveries essentially ended by
1780 after the voyages of Cook. One observer reportedly commented that
"he left his successors with little to do but admire." Certainly the major
archipelagoes had been located and mapped, and Cook's observations and charts
later proved to be remarkably accurate.

     The explorers not only made a significant impact on the people of the
Pacific but their accounts also captured the imagination of Westerners. Both
sides had learned that there were new and unfamiliar peoples in the world.
Trade for food and water supplies had taken place, and islanders had come
to appreciate the value of iron and other Western goods. Romantic myths
about the south sea islands were launched in Europe and America, and
philosophers took island peoples to be examples of humans in a pristine
state of nature. After their long voyages sailors had found island women
especially attractive; thus, the mixture of races had begun. Cook lamented
that venereal disease was already evident by the time of his last voyage.

     In the initial contacts with islanders, misunderstanding and violence
occurred often. In fact, violence accompanied the beginning and the end of the
era. During his call at Guam in 1521, Magellan was angered when some
Chamorros made away with his vessel's skiff. He took 40 men ashore, burned
40 or 50 houses and several canoes, killed seven men, and recovered the skiff.
A stolen vessel was also the immediate cause of Captain Cook's death at
Kealekekua Bay in Hawaii in 1779. On this occasion a cutter was stolen,
and when Cook went ashore to demand its return, he lost his life at the
hands of the Hawaiians.

The Interlopers

     From the 1790s until about the 1860s, the first interlopers who actually
established residence in the Pacific appeared. Polynesia and Micronesia
received the most attention. Melanesia was initially avoided because of the
hostility of the inhabitants and the inhospitable environment. Further, the
widespread absence of chiefs made it more difficult to deal with the
Melanesians.

     The outsiders may be divided into two categories: the sacred and the
profane. Usually the latter arrived first. They have been variously labeled
as beachcombers, sealers, whalers, and traders, and some individuals changed
labels as they shifted from one enterprise to another. Engaged in the affairs
of the sacred, the missionaries usually appeared after the beachcomber
communities had been established. The two groups were often at loggerheads
with each other.

     Beachcombers, who first began to appear with the explorers, were men who
had jumped ship or were the survivors of shipwrecks. They were later joined by
escapees from British and French penal colonies in Australia, Norfolk Island,
and New Caledonia and by men who were malcontents at home or simply
adventurers fascinated by tales of the south seas. The beachcombers have
commonly been described as being overly fond of alcohol and as having unsavory
characters. They came from almost every nation in Europe and the Americas.

     Although it is true that many were undesirables and that most did not
make a great impact on history, the importance of some cannot be denied. The
beachcombers were the first foreigners to establish residence in the islands
and to learn the indigenous languages. Many married or formed long-term
liaisons with island women and left numerous offspring. Some were attached to
chiefly families and were used by chiefs to serve as advisers and/or
intermediaries in relations with Europeans. Their service as interpreters gave
them some control over communication. Missionaries new to the field abhorred
dependence upon the beachcombers and were usually quick to learn the local
language themselves. A few gained considerable prominence and influence and
remained in the islands for the rest of their lives. Some adopted trading as
a profession, while others, perhaps the majority, left or died without a
trace.

     A few left more than a trace and became well-known. For example, Isaac
Davis and John Young were detained in Hawaii by King Kamehameha and became
advisers who helped him solidify his rule over the archipelago. David Whippy
was left by an entrepreneur in Fiji and became a major figure in Fijian
politics at the time Fiji lost its sovereignty. William Mariner, a young
Englishman, was detained in Tonga by a chiefly family for four years
(1806-10); he was a keen observer and provided an excellent account of Tongan
society and language. Herman Melville spent time in the Marquesas as a
beachcomber, later incorporating his experiences in two novels, Typee and
Omoo. James O'Connell, a colorful Irishman and somewhat of a rogue, left a
valuable account of several years on Ponape in the late 1820s and early 1830s.

     Beginning in the late 1790s, commercial ships began to carry sealers and
fur traders between the northwest coast of America and China. Trade in salt
pork was established between Tahiti, where it was produced, and Sydney. The
sealers and fur traders visited the islands as they plied their vessels across
the Pacific, trading primarily to obtain food and freshwater supplies. For
them, as well as for the whalers who followed them, the islands were well
liked as recreation spots.

     Sandalwood, which had long been valued in China, caused considerable
excitement when it was discovered in Polynesia and Melanesia. Although the
sandalwood trade did not last long, it brought violence and bad relations
almost everywhere. Generally, the sandalwooders had a very bad reputation;
they often attempted to shortchange islanders, sometimes bullying them into
participating in the trade. Chiefs, especially those in Hawaii, used the trade
to enhance their own welfare at the expense of the commoners. It was a
blessing that the trade ran its course in relatively short order. The three
main areas first affected were Fiji (1804-16), Hawaii (1811-28), and the
Marquesas (1813-17). Trade was first established in the 1820s in
Melanesia-primarily among the New Hebrides, the Loyalty Islands, and New
Caledonia-and lasted until about 1865. Other Pacific products also found
markets in China, and traders promoted the collection of beche-de-mer (or
trepang-a sea cucumber used for soups), mother of pearl, and tortoiseshell.

     More importantly, the Pacific was found to have rich whaling grounds.
By the 1820s whalers were operating all over the region. The enterprise began
with both British and American whalers, but it soon became dominated by
New England interests out of Nantucket and New Bedford. The crews, however,
were a mixed bag composed of not only New Englanders but also American
Indians, runaway slaves, renegade British sailors, Europeans of several
nationalities, and Pacific islanders, especially Hawaiians.

     The whaling industry grew rapidly; many more than 700 American vessels
worked the Pacific during the peak decade of the 1850s. Through the 1860s and
1870s the industry declined as whaling grounds were depleted and as whale oil
for lamps was replaced by kerosene.

     Ports of call sprang up in response to the industry. Whalers put ashore
to restore and resupply vessels for what came to be known as "refreshment."
The latter referred to all kinds of activities: a relief from the rigors
of sea, fresh foods, the excitement of new faces, the swilling of booze,
and the securing of willing sexual partners. Liquor, guns, hardware, and
textiles were traded for the commodities and services required by the
seafarers. Hawaii, Tahiti, and the Marquesas were the first to feel the impact
in Polynesia. Ponape and Kosrae became favorite spots in Micronesia.
Eventually New Zealand was very much involved. There ports were especially
famous for their refreshments: Honolulu in Hawaii, Papeete in Tahiti, and
Kororareka in New Zealand. Honolulu and Papeete survived and continued to
thrive after the decline of whaling; Kororareka did not. Everywhere the
whalers had a deleterious impact on indigenous peoples. The incidence of
venereal disease as well as other diseases increased, violence was common,
alcohol ravaged people unaccustomed to strong drink, and firearms heightened
the seriousness of indigenous conflicts. Depopulation began to be a serious
problem in many island groups, one that would continue throughout the
twentieth century.

     The copra trade also had a great impact on the islands; in fact, no other
Western economic activity has touched the lives of so many Pacific islanders.
By the mid-nineteenth century there was a large demand for tropical vegetable
oils in Europe; thus, the oil of the meat of the coconut became of value.

     Germans launched the copra trade. The firm of Johann Cesar Godeffroy
and Son began with an oil-processing plant in Western Samoa in 1856. It soon
changed to exporting copra, which was later processed in Europe. Godeffroy
acquired large plantations in the Samoa Islands and by the 1870s had agents
scattered across the Pacific from Tahiti to the Marianas.

     Later, other plantations were established, and other large-scale
companies became involved with copra and other commerce. However, the
consequences were much more widespread. The coconut palm grows almost
everywhere, even thriving on coral atolls, and copra production is simple,
requiring little or no capital investment. In the most basic form of
production, the white meat of a mature nut is cut from its shell and dried in
the sun. Consequently, copra production is suited for even the poorest and
most remote spots in the Pacific. The boats of small traders as well as large
trading firms can collect copra throughout an island chain, exchanging cash
and goods in return. In spite of difficulties stemming from price
fluctuations, copra has therefore been a natural product for the islands and
has been a major income earner for the inhabitants. As increased numbers of
coconut palms were planted, the copra trade altered the landscapes of entire
islands, especially the atolls. A coral atoll whose islands are entirely
covered with the palms is a post-copra-trade phenomenon.

     It is an understatement to say that the last category of foreigners to be
considered, the missionaries, also had an immeasurable impact on Pacific
societies. The missions have been as successful, if not more so, in the
Pacific as in any other place in the world. It all began with the Spanish
and conversions to Catholicism. The Spanish sailing route between Mexico and
the Philippines made Guam, the southernmost of the Marianas, a convenient port
of call for reprovisioning and refreshment. In 1668 a Catholic mission and
military garrison were established there. Initially, the effort seemed
successful, and the priests adopted a strategy that was later to become
commonplace. They first worked to bring the paramount chiefs into the fold;
soon the more common folk followed.

     In 1670 a few priests and catechists were killed after a misunderstanding
with the Chamorros; the Spanish soldiers retaliated, and the Chamorro wars
followed. The Spanish were nothing less than ruthless, and by 1694 Spain's
conquest of the entire Marianas was complete. Of an estimated 100,000
Chamorros, the indigenous population was reduced to about 5,000. For
administrative convenience and to provide a labor force close at hand, most
of these resettled on Guam. Spain had, in effect, established the first
European colony in the Pacific. Within a short time Chamorro culture was
essentially lost as the surviving Chamorros intermarried with their Spanish
masters and Filipinos. The language survives, although in a much altered
form.

     The next round of missionization did not occur until over a century
later, when the Protestants entered Polynesia. In 1797 the London Missionary
Society landed its first contingent of missionaries in Tahiti. Like the
earlier priests on Guam, these missionaries quickly developed the same
sociological insight. If the chiefs could be converted, the process would
quickly spread downward through the lower ranks of the stratified society.
Within twenty years the Tahitian mission had enjoyed considerable success.
By the 1830s the efforts of the London Missionary Society had spread westward,
through the Society Islands to the Cook and Samoa islands.,

     Other Protestant groups followed close on the heels of the London
Missionary Society and, like the latter, for the most part came from Britain.
The Church Missionary Society, organized in Britain, moved to New Zealand
in 1814 to spread the gospel among the Maori. The British-based Wesleyan
Missionary Society established a station in New Zealand in 1819; within a few
years it was at work in Tonga, Fiji, and the Loyalty Islands, the latter
representing intrusions into insular Melanesia. The Melanesian Mission was
started in New Zealand; its initial work was with people in the Banks,
Loyalty, and Solomon islands. By 1866 a mission school was established on
Norfolk Island, and Melanesians were brought there for instruction.

     The Americans entered the field when the Boston-based American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) landed its first missionaries in
Hawaii in 1820. The ABCFM effort, also known as the Boston Mission, followed
the pattern of working through the highest chiefs. Success was relatively
quick. By mid-century ABCFM missionaries, including a few Hawaiian converts,
extended their work to the eastern Carolines, the Marshalls, and eventually
to the Gilberts.

     The first serious effort launched by Catholics in the eastern Pacific
came in 1827, when a band of priests arrived in Hawaii. In an act that
characterized future relations between the two branches of Christianity,
the Protestants expelled the unwanted competition. The Catholics retreated
for a few years and then reentered Polynesia with an adroit move, landing
priests in the remote Mangareva Islands southeast of Tahiti in 1834, where
they were not watched and were unopposed. After gaining a command of the
language, they established missions in Tahiti in 1836 and in the Marquesas in
1838. They were also the first missionaries to reach New Caledonia, in 1843.
Fiji and the Samoa Islands saw their first Catholic missions in 1844.

     By the 1850s and 1860s missionaries were at work in all the island
groups. Melanesia, as usual, came last and was the most difficult to
penetrate. The widespread absence of chiefs, the fragmented and small
political units, and the great diversity of languages made it a true
nightmare. Indeed, the American and European missionaries often did not take
up the challenge; they sent a good number of their recent Polynesian converts
in their stead.

     The Protestants and Catholics could not have been more different. The
Protestants wanted to bring not only their religion but also their own New
England and British habits and work ethic. They insisted on clothing the women
from head to toe and urged islanders to adopt Western-style houses. They
attempted to suppress sexuality and railed against the evils of demon rum and
tobacco. Their message contained more hellfire and brimstone than brotherly
love and compassion.

     The Protestants received much encouragement but not a great amount of
financial support from home, and this helped form a particular style of
missionization. An emphasis was placed on training indigenous pastors and
making the new congregations become economically self-supporting. The
missionaries themselves sometimes engaged in farming and trading. At times
their own offspring became influential in island economies. The ultimate
goal for the mission effort, however, was to train the indigenous pastors
and church committees to take charge of the entire operation. For the most
part, the strategy worked. This missionaries also got involved often in
local politics and were very influential in shaping the monarchies that
developed in Hawaii, Tahiti, and Tonga.

     In contrast the Catholics were French, and the same motives that caused
the French to send Bougainville on his voyage around the world were evident
in the mission field. France was trying to regain its global prestige; its
main rival was Britain. The French government had colonial ambitions in the
Pacific and gave support to the Catholic effort. The Catholic missionaries
promoted French language and culture as well as the dogma of their faith. No
effort was made to create an indigenous church, and the French fathers
remained very much in charge. They were also as much agents of French
imperialism as of their faith.

     The Protestants had agreed to divide the Pacific among themselves and
respected one another's bailiwicks. The Catholics did not play by the same
rules, for in areas where Protestants had become established, Catholics
confronted them. Eventually, the two branches of Christianity overlapped
almost everywhere, but in most island groups one side was dominant. Both
evidenced a considerable amount of intolerance and bigotry, and each claimed
to have the legitimate faith, portraying the other's message as an untruth
at best. Religious wars were fought among island people in a few places.
Even today the rifts between the two are often great. As recently as a few
years ago, the people of one atoll in the Marshalls could not cooperate to
form a local community council to govern their affairs because of the deep
antagonisms between Protestants and Catholics.

     On the positive side, missions provided education and, in some cases,
modest medical care before colonial governments would concern themselves with
such things. More important, the missionaries developed orthographies for many
of the previously unwritten languages. In order to read the Scriptures, it was
necessary to be literate, and the art of reading was taught with great vigor.
Today most people of the Pacific are literate in either their vernacular or,
in the case of Melanesia, the local pidgin.

     By the mid-nineteenth century the initial stage of pioneering in the
Pacific by outsiders was over, and circumstances were in place for two major
developments during the latter half of the century. First, greater commercial
development was to occur for the benefit of Europeans and Americans. Second,
and related to the first, the process that had begun on Guam-the partitioning
of the Pacific among the colonial powers-would be completed.

     With regard to commercial development in the latter part of the
nineteenth century, Douglas L. Oliver, in his now classic book, The Pacific
Islands, has identified three kinds of people as having had the greatest
importance: planters, blackbirders, and merchants. Although some planters
had arrived earlier, a great many more arrived during the late 1800s,
most from Australia and New Zealand. As Oliver has pointed out, the planter
was a new kind of man; he did not come for refreshment or in search of souls.
He came to stay and make a commitment to the development of a plantation, and
he wanted land. Although other tropical plants were tried, the only ones of
any real significance were copra, sugar, coffee, cacao, vanilla, fruit, cotton
and rubber. The last was mainly limited to New Guinea, and cotton only enjoyed
a boom on Fiji during the American Civil War, when supplies from the American
South to the rest of the world were cut off. Copra plantations have been the
most numerous and widespread.

     Planters needed cheap labor, but they did not find what they wanted
among Polynesians and Micronesians. People from both areas worked extremely
hard in short spurts when some culturally valued task was at hand, but they
would not tolerate the monotonous routines of daily plantation chores. There
were two solutions. For the sugar plantations of Hawaii and Fiji, laborers
from outside the region were imported. In Hawaii, Japanese, Chinese, and
Filipinos were brought in, and they stayed to become part of the archipelago's
society. In Fiji, Indians were imported as indentured laborers; they too
stayed and came to comprise about one-half the population. The sugar industry
produced revolutionary changes in both island groups.

     For plantations elsewhere in the islands and the sugar fields of
Queensland in Australia, Melanesians became the primary targets for
blackbirding. In theory, blackbirding was a system of indentured labor
whereby islanders obligated themselves for a few years of labor in exchange
for being fed, paid a small wage, and returned home with a bonus of cash
and goods or some variant thereof. In reality, islanders were often tricked
or trapped into the arrangement, and their rewards were not always what they
expected. Blackbirders delivered newly acquired "recruits" to their new
masters and made handsome profits for themselves. Some of the laborers were
treated reasonably well. Others were not, and some never saw their homes
again. In the last analysis, blackbirding was a form of slavery. As the
colonial powers divided the Pacific, they brought the seamy practice to an
end.

     Following the planters and blackbirders, several large mercantile firms
emerged, including the German firm of Godeffroy, which collapsed and was
succeeded for a while by other German firms. New Zealand and Australian
interests became dominant, however, and several firms came to take up the
major share of trade. They absorbed smaller trading operations, or smaller
traders became their agents. Auckland and Sydney essentially became the
financial capitals of the Pacific.

The Partitioning of the Pacific

     Before the mid-nineteenth century, only two colonial powers had laid
claim to territory in the insular Pacific. Guam and the rest of the Marianas
were firmly under Spanish rule. Spain also claimed much of the remainder of
Micronesia but had made no move to establish any real control. As a result
of their involvement in the East Indies, the Dutch had been familiar with the
western portion of New Guinea since the seventeenth century. In 1828 they
laid formal claim to the western half of the island, but the Dutch did not
establish a permanent administrative post until some 70 years later. Britain
had founded its penal colony in Australia in 1788, and the continent was
eventually divided into several separate colonies; unification came later.

     Convicts who had served their time and free settlers from Australia
and Britain soon spilled over into New Zealand. In 1840 Britain took
possession of New Zealand, which in 1841 separated as a colony from Australia.
Thereafter, Australia and New Zealand, particularly the former, strongly urged
Britain to annex every island and reef in the Pacific. Britain's position
was that it did not wish to commit itself to greater overseas expansion in the
Pacific. The Dutch did not-have further ambitions outside of western New
Guinea. The United States was still very much involved in whaling and the
fur trade in the northern Pacific; it had no possessions in the Pacific and
was not seeking territorial expansion in the area at the time.

     France did have ambitions. A proposal to build the Panama Canal was
being revived at the time, and it appeared that the Marquesas and Tahiti
might become valuable as ports along a sailing route between the canal
and Australia and New Zealand. France made its move in 1842 by declaring its
sovereignty in the Marquesas and a protectorate over Tahiti. In the same year
the smaller Wallis Island also came under French control. New Caledonia, a
major prize, was next to come under the tricolor when France declared its
sovereignty there in 1853; the French priests who had been working there
unopposed were very much involved in the process. New Caledonia was used as
a penal colony from 1865 to 1894, and nickel mining began in the 1870s. With
Tahiti and New Caledonia in hand, France had established itself as a colonial
power in the Pacific. Later, between 1881 and 1887, France annexed other
islands in and around Tahiti to become dominant in eastern Polynesia and
consolidate what is now French Polynesia.

     After New Caledonia came under French rule, the next major territorial
acquisition was made by Britain. In 1874 feuding chiefs ceded Fiji to the
British, and the situation was essentially a salvage operation. On this
occasion and later, the British acquired territories to satisfy Australia
and New Zealand and to bring stability and law and order. In Fiji, British,
American, and other planters had been pleading for protection; the warring
chiefs could not bring about any stability, and blackbirding was rife. Britain
was under pressure to provide a solution and did so with some reluctance.

     Australia and New Zealand were pleased that Britain had finally taken
action. The two had been disturbed by France's takeover of New Caledonia to
their north. They were further concerned, if not alarmed, at Germany's
entry into the Pacific. The German firm of Godeffroy had begun operations
in the Samoa Islands in 1856 and had spread its agents out across the Pacific
within a few years. Within the Samoa Islands the Americans, British, and
Germans tried several schemes of governance, none of which succeeded. The
United States was primarily interested in the excellent harbor at Pago Pago;
the Germans were concerned with the protection of their economic investment
and plantations. The British had less at stake, and the Samoans were engaged
in civil war among themselves. As in Fiji, some stability was needed, but the
rivalry among the three major powers did not allow for an easy solution.

     In the meantime, Germany continued to expand its commercial interests and
made its first territorial acquisition when it annexed northeast New Guinea
and the adjacent Bismarck Archipelago in 1884. Germany declared a protectorate
over the Marshalls in the following year.

     Germany's action in New Guinea caused great concern in Australia; the
last thing the Australians wanted was another non-English-speaking and
potentially hostile foreign power to their north; New Caledonia had been quite
enough. The still reluctant British moved at last and claimed the southeastern
portion of New Guinea, immediately north of Australia. In 1885 the British and
the Germans agreed upon the boundary between the German northeast portion
(German New Guinea) and the Australian southeast portion (British New Guinea,
or Papua). In 1888 Britain assumed full sovereignty over Papua. In the same
year, Germany added Nauru to its empire at the insistence of German traders,
who had been on the island for about two decades.

     In the next few years Britain began to exercise what in Australia's view
was its proper role in the area. Its next acquisitions were not impressive,
however; they were mostly atolls. British protectorates were declared over the
Cook, Phoenix, Tokelau, and Gilbert and Ellice islands by 1892. The
Australians and New Zealanders were pleased when Britain declared a
protectorate over most of the Solomon Islands on their northern flanks in
1883. The New Hebrides remained the only group in Melanesia not claimed by an
outsider power.

     The years 1898 and 1899 witnessed the end of Spain's presence in the
Pacific, the entry of the United States, further German expansion, and the
resolution of the problem in the Samoa Islands. In 1898 the United States
defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War and acquired the Philippines and
Guam, the latter still valued as a coaling station. For a mere pittance
Germany bought the rest of Spanish Micronesia.

     With the aid of the United States Marines, the Hawaiian monarchy was
overthrown by a group of businessmen of American birth or descent in 1893.
Although there was some initial opposition, including that of President Grover
Cleveland for a few years, Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898.
The United States had acquired its second Pacific territory, which became the
fiftieth state of the union in 1959.

     Tiring of the situation in the Samoa Islands, Britain, Germany, and the
United States arrived at a solution. In 1899 Britain renounced its claims, and
the next year Germany and the United States divided the archipelago. Germany
got the lion's share, which became Western Samoa. The United States acquired
the smaller eastern portion with its coveted Pago Pago harbor, and American
Samoa was born. Britain also got something out of the deal, for Germany
renounced potential rights or claims to Tonga and Niue in favor of Britain and
gave the British undisputed claim to all of the Solomon Islands east and
southeast of Bougainville and Buka. That left the New Hebrides as the only
remaining sizable island group that was not an official colony. Before that
was to be changed, however, several minor items were to be taken care of. In
1900 Niue was claimed as a British protectorate, and in the following year
Britain turned both it and the Cook Islands over to New Zealand for
annexation. In 1900 Tonga and Britain signed a treaty in which Tonga
essentially agreed to turn over its foreign affairs but in reality was
extensively guided and influenced by the British.

     Finally came the New Hebrides. After a couple of decades of rule by a
joint British and French naval commission, Britain and France, fearful of
further German ambitions, established a condominium government over the
archipelago in 1906. The arrangement was always awkward and never satisfactory
to anyone, but it closed the islands to others. Also in 1906, Australia, whose
separate colonies had been joined in a federation only five years previously,
assumed the administration of Papua. What had begun on Guam in 1668 was
completed: the Pacific had been partitioned by eight colonial powers. One of
the eight, Spain, had been forced out, leaving Australia, Britain, France,
Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States.