c. 16th century BCE – c. 5th century BCE
Bearers of the Lapita culture, known for their dentate-stamped pottery, settled islands from the Bismarck Archipelago to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, laying the foundations of Polynesian societies.
Approximate date.
Around 3000 BCE, Austronesian-speaking peoples began migrating from Taiwan into the Philippines and Indonesia, eventually spreading across the Pacific and as far as Madagascar.
Eastern Polynesian voyagers reached New Zealand by canoe, probably between about 1250 and 1300; their descendants developed Māori culture.
Dutch captain Willem Janszoon aboard the Duyfken charted the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, the first recorded European landing in Australia.
The Dutch navigator Abel Tasman became the first known European to reach Tasmania and New Zealand.
On his first voyage, Captain James Cook of HMS Endeavour landed at Botany Bay, then charted Australia's east coast and claimed it for Britain.
The explorer James Cook was killed in a clash with Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay during his third voyage.