Europeans in Oceania

European exploration and settlement of Oceania began in the 16th century, starting with the Spanish (Castilian) landings and shipwrecks in the Mariana Islands, east of the Philippines. This was followed by the Portuguese landing and settling temporarily (due to the monsoons) in some of the Caroline Islands and Papua New Guinea. Several Spanish landings in the Caroline Islands and New Guinea came after. Subsequent rivalry between European colonial powers, trade opportunities and Christian missions drove further European exploration and eventual settlement. After the 17th century Dutch landings in New Zealand and Australia, with no settlement in these lands, the British became the dominant colonial power in the region, establishing settler colonies in what would become Australia and New Zealand, both of which now have majority European-descended populations. British exploration of Oceania increased in the late 18th century, particularly through the voyages of James Cook between 1768 and 1779, which resulted in detailed mapping of the Pacific region. States including New Caledonia (Caldoche), Hawaii, French Polynesia, and Norfolk Island also have considerable European populations. Europeans remain a primary ethnic group in much of Oceania, both numerically and economically.

The areas covered in this article follow the guidelines set out by list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Oceania.

European settlement and colonization

Australasia

Australia and New Zealand

European settlement in Australia began in 1788 when the British established the Crown Colony of New South Wales with the first settlement at Port Jackson. New Zealand was part of New South Wales until 1840 when it became a separate colony and experienced a marked increase in European settlement.

thumb|A migrant family from [[Minsk, Belarus in Melbourne, c. 1915–1916. They were likely recorded as Russians rather than Belarusians.]]

While the largest European ethnic group to originally settle in both Australia and New Zealand were the English, the settler population in Australia from early times contained a large Irish Catholic component, in contrast to New Zealand which was more Scottish in composition.

For generations, the vast majority of both colonial-era settlers and post-independence immigrants to Australia and New Zealand came primarily from the British Isles. However, waves of European immigrants were later drawn from a broader range of countries. Australia, in particular, received large numbers of European immigrants from countries such as Italy, Greece, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands and Yugoslavia following the Second World War. Today, Australia has the largest Maltese population outside of Malta itself. Up until the 1940s, fellow Anglosphere colony the United States had received more migrants from areas such as Southern Europe when compared to Australia.

thumb|left|Polish refugees in [[Wellington, New Zealand, 1944.]]

thumb|right|Child immigrant Maira Kalnins in August 1949. Kalnins was travelling with her family to start a new life in Australia after the postwar occupation of her native [[Latvia by Russian forces. Her photogenic qualities won her the role as the central figure in a publicity campaign to mark the 50,000th new arrival in Australia.]]

Between the end of World War II and 1955 alone, 850,000 Europeans came to Australia, including 171,000 "Displaced persons", war-time and post-war emigrants resettled in the country by arrangement with the International Refugee Organization. This was also the case in New Zealand, with their government believing that continental Europeans could easily assimilate to the pre-existing culture. The Australian-born population were often encouraged to forge friendships with the new arrivals. A government program known as the Good Neighbour Council operated in Australian communities, with the specific aim of encouraging locals to establish friendships with post-World War II immigrants.

By the time restrictions on non-white immigration began being lifted in the late 1960s, the governments had already moved towards a policy of integration, where new immigrants were allowed to retain their original cultural identities. This echoed developments in other immigrant-receiving countries outside of Oceania, notably Canada.

In March 2022, the Australian government granted temporary visas to approximately 5,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country.

The current top 25 European ethnic groups in Australia as of 2016 are as follows:

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:0 1em 1em 0;"

!European ethnicity

!Population in Australia (2016)

|align=center|English Australians ||7,852,221

|align=center|Australians ||7,298,238

|align=center|Irish Australians ||2,388,058

|align=center|Scottish Australians ||2,023,460

|align=center|Italian Australians ||1,000,013

|align=center|German Australians ||982,230

|align=center|Greek Australians ||397,435

| align=center|Dutch Australians ||339,547

|align=center|Polish Australians ||183,968

|align=center|Maltese Australians ||175,563

|align=center|Welsh Australians ||144,589

|align=center|French Australians ||135,384

|align=center|Croatian Australians ||133,264

|align=center|Spanish Australians ||119,957

|align=center|Serbian Australians ||104,549

|align=center|Macedonian Australians ||98,437

|align=center|Russian Australians ||85,646

|align=center|Hungarian Australians ||73,613

|align=center|Portuguese Australians ||61,890

|align=center|Danish Australians ||59,292

|align=center|Ukrainian Australians ||46,192

|align=center|Austrian Australians ||44,408

|align=center|Swedish Australians ||40,216

|align=center|Swiss Australians ||31,560

|align=center|Cypriot Australians ||29,005

This list excludes outside ethnicities often associated with Europeans (such as American Australians and Canadian Australians) as well as transcontinental ethnicities which are generally considered to be Asian (such as Armenian Australians and Turkish Australians).

Christmas Island

The first European sighting of the island is believed to have been in 1616 by Richard Rowe, master of the Thomas ship. It was later sighted on Christmas Day 1643 by Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company, who named it Christmas Island.

The earliest known landing occurred in 1688, when the English ship Cygnet arrived near the Dales wetland on the island's west coast. No human inhabitation was found. Explorer William Dampier was on board, and recorded how some of the crew brought large coconut crabs back to the ship to eat.

In 1887, a party from British naval vessel HMS Egeria made their way through the dense jungle to reach the summit of what is now Murray Hill. Between 1900 and 1904, 550 people on the island died from thiamine deficiency. Women and children from 50 Asian and European families were evacuated to the Western Australian city of Perth soon afterwards.

On 31 March 1942, approximately 850 Japanese troops arrived by sea and took over the island. Ethnically segregated schools were later abolished, despite fears from the Europeans that this would lead to a decline in teaching quality. Sovereignty of Christmas Island was transferred from Singapore and the United Kingdom to Australia in 1958.

In August 2001, Australian troops boarded the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa off Christmas Island. The commander of the vessel, Captain Arne Rinnan, had rescued hundreds of mainly Afghan Hazara asylum seekers from a stranded Indonesian human smuggling vessel, and was attempting to bring them to the Australian mainland. In late 2001, Australia began using Christmas Island, Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island as detention centers for asylum seekers.

An Australian mental health nurse from Perth was sacked in 2011, after having sexual relations with a suicidal asylum seeker whom she had been treating on Christmas Island. The nurse's initial March 2011 consultation with the detainee found he was at risk of self-harm and had previously tried to kill himself. The guard was employed by Serco, the British company which managed the center. with the population primarily consisting of Europeans (29% or 460 of the population), Chinese and Malays, in addition to smaller numbers of Indians and Eurasians. The Chinese and Malay residents feel less connection to the mainland than the European residents, who are mostly from Australia and New Zealand. In 1774, Captain James Cook became the first European to discover the island while on his second voyage to the South Pacific.

thumb|right|250px|[[Norfolk Islanders gathering at a cricket match in November 1908.]]

Norfolk was settled by the British in March 1788, merely five weeks after the First Fleet of convicts arrived in Sydney, New South Wales. They viewed the island's pines as being useful for ships masts and the local flax as good for sails. Her case attracted significant media attention in Australia and New Zealand, partly because she was the first person to be murdered on the island since 1893 (others claimed it was the first murder in Norfolk's history). In 2006, European New Zealander chef Glenn Peter Charles McNeill was arrested for her murder near the city of Nelson, on the South Island of New Zealand, after being identified by an Australian Federal Police investigation.

Melanesia

Fiji

New Caledonia

New Caledonia's archipelago was originally inhabited by a Melanesian group known as the Kanaks around 3000 BCE. Aside from rare Polynesian voyagers, they were likely isolated from the outside world up until European arrival.

Captain James Cook became the first European to discover it on 4 September 1774, christening the area "New Caledonia". Before he left, Cook got his painter William Hodges to draw a portrait of what the typical male and female inhabitants looked like, as he had previously done while in Vanuatu two months prior. The drawings have since been described as "highly competent works, but wholly impersonal", as though the Melanesian people hadn't made any kind of impression on him. they were seen as being violent towards outsiders, and were known to practice cannibalism.

The early pioneers of colonization in New Caledonia were predominantly British.

On 24 September 1853, Admiral Febvrier Despointes annexed New Caledonia on behalf of France, in order to forestall any potential move by the British. Paddon's trading posts ceased to exist not long afterwards. Napoleon III of France ordered a decree to make New Caledonia a penal colony on 2 September 1863. The penal colony officially began in 1864, with the first convoy of transported convicts arriving in Nouméa on 9 May.

thumb|right|322x322px|French convicts on a construction site in [[Nouméa, c. 1900.]]

thumb|left|222x222px|A New Caledonian prison warden, c. 1906.

The country forced both male and female convicts to remain in New Caledonia for a period equivalent to the duration of their prison sentence, the aim of this being primarily to boost their colony's overall population. The US military helped employ around 1,500 Kanaks out of an indigenous population of about 30,000. The Americans had a positive economic, political, and cultural impact on the Kanak population, but caused a suspicion among French officials, who viewed it as an occupation and a threat to their colonial dominance in New Caledonia.

Currently, 27.1% of the population or about 71,700 people of New Caledonia has European ancestry. The only countries or territories with a larger European population in Oceania are Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. European New Caledonians have been compared to European Australians, due to their shared convict backgrounds, and their large population in comparison to the rest of Oceania.

Papua

thumb|Australian [[Kiap|patrol officer in the Australian-administered Territory of New Guinea in 1964]]

Papua New Guinea

Solomon Islands

Vanuatu

Vanuatu is thought to have been settled by Austronesian-speaking Melanesians around 1200-1300 BC. Over a hundred different languages developed on its islands.

thumb|377x233px|James Cook's landing on [[Tanna (island)|Tanna Island, as depicted by William Hodges.]]

In 1605, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós became the first European to reach the islands of Vanuatu, believing it to be part of Terra Australis. He arrived on 17 July 1774, and was met with natives who were Melanesian rather than Polynesian, therefore having different customs. The gruesome death of the well-known Williams caused missionaries to become cautious of Vanuatu. The islands of Vanuatu had very little contact with the United States prior to independence. Australia were among the first to recognize Vanuatu's independence, and the country continues to donate large amounts of aid. In 2019-20 alone they gave $91.7 million worth of ODA (Official Development Assistance) to Vanuatu.

West Papua

Micronesia

Kiribati

Federated States of Micronesia

FS Micronesia's archipelago (known as the Caroline Islands) is notable for having had some of Oceania's earliest exposure to Europeans.

After thousands of years in isolation, European contact with Oceanians was established during 1521 in the neighboring Micronesian region of Guam, when a Spanish expedition under Ferdinand Magellan reached its shoreline. The first contact that Spain had with the Carolines was in 1525, when a summer storm carried the navigators Diogo da Rocha and Gomes de Sequeira eastward from the Moluccas (by way of Celebes). They ended up reaching several of the Caroline Islands, staying there until 20 January 1526. In the Carolines, colonization by the Spanish did not formally begin until the early 17th century.

Micronesia was the first part of Oceania that was evangelized, with Catholicism becoming widespread in the Carolines and elsewhere during the first few hundred years of European colonization.

thumb|left|A German postcard of [[Chuuk State|Chuuk. It was created sometime between 1899 and 1914, when Germany had control of the Carolines.]]

The first two German priests arrived in the Carolines in 1903 to work alongside the remaining Spanish priests. One of the two, Salesius Haas, was assigned to Yap where he taught German to island students. This is known as the Sokehs rebellion,

FS Micronesia has been heavily reliant on aid from the United States since World War II. They entered a compact free trade agreement in 1986 that gives America full authority and responsibility for the defense of the FSM. The Compact provides U.S. grant funds and federal program assistance to the FSM.

Guam

Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands were initially settled by Micronesians possibly up to 4,000 years ago.

They were sighted in 1529 by the Spanish navigator Alvaro Saavedra Cerón, However, the Marshalls lacked enough natural resources to encourage exploitation by outsiders for many years. Marshall partially explored the islands, but much of the mapping was done by subsequent Russian expeditions in the early 19th century. German trading firms began operations in the Marshalls soon after. Japan seized the Marshalls during World War I, and the United States expelled them in World War II. and they agreed to enter a Compact of Free Association with the United States on 25 June 1983. It granted the Marshall Islands substantial authority in foreign affairs, but vested the United States with full responsibility and authority for their defense.

Nauru

Little is known about the pre-European history of the Micronesian island of Nauru. The first inhabitants are believed to have possibly arrived 3,000 or more years ago, with a long period of isolation likely accounting for the island's distinct language.

After Australia was settled in 1788, trade routes from Australasia through the Pacific to the

China Seas were forged by frequent use.

Fearn noted that the natives carried no weapons, and believed that some ship had been there before him because of their confident and courteous manner.

Germany incorporated Nauru into its Marshall Islands protectorate in late 1888. They came via Hawaii, having been sent by the Central Union Church of Honolulu and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Rich phosphate deposits were discovered in the late 1890s. The Pacific Phosphate Company, a British concern, negotiated an agreement with the German administration in 1906 to start mining. Their mission on Nauru was taken over by the London Missionary Society in early 1917, and the Delaportes returned to the United States. Delaporte's wife Salome reflected on the accomplishments of Christianity in Micronesia by writing:

Nauru remained a German colony until Australian forces expelled them in 1914 during World War I. Their legacy is still evident in Nauru, with many on the island having German first names.

In 1919, Nauru became a mandated territory of the League of Nations with Australia as the main administering power, and Britain and New Zealand as co-trustees. In September 1945, Australian troops again took possession of Nauru and on 31 January 1946, 737 Nauruans were returned home from Chuuk. Their meteoric rise was profiled by the New York Times in 1982.

Nauru's phosphate was shipped into the port of Geelong in Victoria, Australia, leading to the Nauruans forging strong connections with that state's capital city, Melbourne. The high rise tower helped generate revenue for Nauru through renters. however, it was never tall enough to take the mantle as Australia's tallest building, with the taller MLC Centre in Sydney completed just a few months earlier.

By the late 1990s, Nauru's phosphate industry had severely declined, leaving the country in financial ruin. The Nauruans were financially rewarded by Australia for agreeing to hold the asylum seekers. Nauru's detention center program has had several cessations and re-establishments since late 2001, and was still active for most of the 2010s. A reason for its continued presence is due to Nauru's concern over losing much-needed aid from Australia.

Northern Mariana Islands

Palau

The first European contact with the western Micronesian islands of Palau is unclear. There is disagreement as to whether Spaniard Ruy López de Villalobos, who landed in several Caroline Islands, spotted Palau in 1543, or if Ferdinand Magellan sighted it even earlier in 1522. No conclusive evidence exists. The earliest confirmed European contact with Palauans came a century later in December 1696, when a group of islanders shipwrecked on the Filipino island of Samar. They were interviewed by the Czech missionary Paul Klein on 28 December 1696. Klein was able to draw the first map of Palau based on a description given by the shipwrecked Palauans, and in June 1697 he sent a letter informing Europeans of Palau's existence. This map and the letter caused a vast interest in the islands, and resulted in failed attempts by Catholic missionaries to travel to Palau from the Philippines in 1700, 1708 and 1709.

thumb|299x299px|right|Wreck of the Antelope Packet, Capt. Henry Wilson, on a Reef of Rocks, near the Pelew Islands by [[Thomas Tegg, National Maritime Museum.]]

Sustained contact with outsiders took place after the East India Company’s Antelope shipwrecked near Palau in 1783. The Anteleopes crew consisted of Englishmen, in addition to sixteen Chinese. The stranded crew reached shore and are believed to have been well treated by the natives. some six months after his arrival in London.

In 1788, British author George Keate wrote An Account of the Pelew Islands, which was based on the events of the Antelope shipwreck. Yap Catholic missionaries Daniel Arbacegui and Antolin Orihuela sailed to Palau in July of that year. and they continue to receive millions in aid from both the US and Australia. As of 2020, around 233 or 1.2% of the population are of European origin.

Polynesia

American Samoa

Cook Islands

thumb|British colonial officer reads the [[Cook Islands annexation proclamation to Queen Makea on 7 October 1900]]

Easter Island

Easter Island was inhabited by Polynesians known as the Rapa Nui prior to European discovery. Archeological evidence suggests they arrived around 400 AD. The island is internationally recognized for its Moai statues, constructed by the Rapa Nui. It is also considered one of the most isolated places on earth with human inhabitation.

The first European to land on Easter Island was the Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen, who discovered it on Easter Day, 1722.

Don Felipe Gonzales, a Spanish captain, was the next to land at Easter Island in 1770. Gonzales and his men spent four days ashore. In that time they learned that the natives had their own local form of script. Gonzales estimated a population of some 3,000 persons. Easter Island was one of many Polynesian islands targeted by Peru, and was the hardest hit due to its geographical proximity to the South American coast. Using his own funds, Eyraud sailed from Tahiti to Easter Island, where he arrived on 2 January 1864. Eyraud made extensive preparations to prepare for his voyage. He took bolts of cloth with which to cover the natives, carpenter's tools, various pieces of timber and wood with which to build a cabin, a barrel of flour, two or three catechisms and prayer books in Tahitian and a bell with which to call the natives to prayer.

The native population, estimated to have once been 10,000 before European discovery, had been reduced to 111 towards the end of the 19th century. To test his theory, in 1947 he left the coast of Peru on a rudimentary wooden boat, the Kon Tiki.

Captain James Cook became the first European to set foot on Hawaiian soil in 1778. In 1820, the first Christian missionaries arrived, and shortly afterward European traders and whalers came to the islands. They brought with them diseases that devastated the Native Hawaiian population. Hawaiians numbered about 300,000 when Cook arrived; in 1853, the native population was down to 70,000.

thumb|178px|right|[[Kelly Preston in 2005.]]

In 1959, the US government organized a vote in Hawaii to determine if the territory should become a state. Migrants of European origin have remained highly prevalent since 1959, with whites today currently making up nearly 30% of Hawaii's 1.4 million population. By contrast, native Hawaiians made up 97% of the population in 1853.

Hawaiian culture, and by extension Polynesian culture, began to penetrate the European-dominated mainland of the United States during the 1960s. This was partly due to the rise of Tiki, as well as Hollywood films. That decade, it became common for white Californian parents to send their children to Hawaii for the summer. In the middle part of the 1980s, Honolulu was rocked by the grisly murders of five women (mainly of European origin). Such types of crime were unheard of in Hawaii at the time. The serial killer remains unknown, and he has been nicknamed the Honolulu Strangler. Evidence strongly suggests it was the now deceased Howard Gay, a white mainland American. to those who lived considerable portions of their lives on the islands. Actress Kelly Preston was born in Honolulu in 1962, spending her youth not only in Hawaii, but also in another Oceanian region, Australia. She graduated from Honolulu's Punahou School in 1980, forging a successful film career in Los Angeles not long afterwards. Captain James Cook became the first European to discover it, making three failed attempts to land in 1774. At first, he and his men made no contact with the natives. Further along the coast, he saw Niueans from a distance, and at a third stop he came ashore and the two groups met.

The first European missionaries to arrive on the island were a group from the London Missionary Society on the Messenger of Peace in 1830. Following the influenza outbreak, Niue became fearful of outsiders spreading further diseases.

thumb|left|Hoisting the [[Union Jack flag over Niue, 1900.]]

Niue became a British colony in 1900, and was brought within the boundaries of New Zealand in 1901, along with the Cook Islands. 148 Niuean men, 4% of the island's population, were soldiers in the New Zealand armed forces from that point on. World War II, however, would have no impact on the island.

Niue started seeking self-governance after World War II, but, financial aid and family remittances helped delay this until 1974, when Niue officially became a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand. Among them, Terry Coe was the only palagi (person of European descent) in the Niue Assembly during his years as a parliamentarian (1993-2023); he was also the country's Finance Minister from 1993 to 1997.

Pitcairn Islands

thumb|right|250px|[[Pitcairn Islanders in 1916.]]

The highly remote islands were discovered in 1767 by the British, and remained uninhabited until 1790, when they were settled by mutineers from HMS Bounty. The settlers were led by the British-born Fletcher Christian. He sailed to the islands with eight of his own men, six Tahitian men and 12 Tahitian women, whom he had met in present-day French Polynesia. Pitcairn was annexed by Britain in 1838, and by 1856 inhabitants were moved to Norfolk Island because of overpopulation. Pitcairn is labelled as a "cultural melting pot", and has strong influences from both Britain and Tahiti. In 2004, seven citizens of Pitcairn, including three descendants of Fletcher Christian, were brought to trial on the island on 55 counts of sexual abuse with girls.

In 2021, it was reported that all 47 residents had received COVID-19 vaccinations.

Samoa

thumb|[[Robert Louis Stevenson's home at Vailima, Samoa, showing him on the veranda, c. 1893]]

Tokelau

Tokelau was originally inhabited by Polynesians, who likely arrived from Samoa a thousand years ago. There were several early European discoveries of Tokelau's islands, none of which were considered significant. This has since been identified as the Atafu group of atolls in Tokelau. In 1835, Fakaofo was sighted by American sailor Captain Smith, of the whaling ship General Jackson. He chose to call it "D'Wolf's Island".

Outsider contact with inhabitants of Tokelau was officially established on 25 January 1841, when the United States Exploring Expedition visited Atafu, discovering a small population. The people are thought to have been only temporarily residents, as there was no chief among them. They appeared to have interacted with foreigners in the past, because they expressed a desire to trade items with the European Americans, and possessed items that were apparently of foreign origin. The American expedition reached Nukunonu on 28 January 1841, but did not record any information about inhabitants. On 29 January 1841, the expedition found an inhabited Fakaofo and named it "Bowditch". The Fakaofo islanders were found to be similar in appearance and behavior to the Atafu islanders.

French Catholic and British Protestant missionaries both began arriving to Tokelau in 1845. in February 1852, 500 people were forcibly removed from Fakaofo and shipped to Uvea in Wallis and Futuna, at the instigation of the Bishop for Central Oceania. By the beginning of the 1860s, Nuknonu was entirely Catholic, and Atafu entirely Protestant, with Fakaofo being a mix between the two. Fakaofo was ravaged by dysentery in January 1863. Tokelau was largely ignored by New Zealand over the next four decades. In this period, the villagers had only sporadic contact with the other islanders or the administrative powers of New Zealand. In the mid-1980s, New Zealand anthropologist Antony Cooper carried out an ethnographic study of the growing prevalence of aid to Tokelau. Clipperton Island was named after British pirate John Clipperton, who was said to have stayed there in 1705, with 21 other mutineers. There have since been rumors that Clipperton may have hid treasures.

In 1708, sailors from the French ships Princess and Découverte reached the atoll and named it Ile de la Passion, annexing it for France. American Guano Mining Company claimed it under the Guano Islands Act of 1856; Mexico also claimed it due to activities undertaken there as early as 1848–1849. On 17 November 1858, Emperor Napoleon III annexed it as part of the French colony of Tahiti. This did not settle the ownership question. Mexico reasserted its claim late in the 19th century and established a military outpost on Clipperton in 1897. These people were Mexicans of European or Mixed European descent. They were sent supplies every two months via a ship from Acapulco, however, the escalation of fighting in the Mexican Revolution diverted the suppliers’ attention. The islands were discovered by chance in 1535 when Spanish navigators were sailing from Panama to Peru, Whalers also frequently took the giant Galápagos tortoises with them, not only because their meat was rich in protein when consumed, but because their fat could produce gallons of cooking oil. The Galápagos Islands subsequently became internationally recognized, following a 1835 visit from British naturalist Charles Darwin, with the unique wildlife of the islands greatly influencing Darwin's theory on natural selection.

South American country Ecuador officially took possession in 1832. For the first 100 years under Ecuadorian rule, the islands were used as a penal colony, and as such were primarily inhabited by a select number of South American convicts. Their experiences were published in a German newspaper, and Ritter encouraged more Germans to visit the islands, which led to an increase in European tourism. In 1972, the Mexican film Vanessa was also partly shot on the Galápagos Islands, utilizing a cast of mainly European actors. Scenes from the 2003 American film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World were shot on the Galápagos Islands in late 2002. The film was directed by Australian Peter Weir, and starred New Zealand actor Russell Crowe. At the time it was incorrectly labelled as the first motion picture to be shot on the Galápagos, due to the obscurity of Vanessa.

The human population has been steadily increasing since the 1970s. This has been as a result both of the growth in tourism as well as the opportunities for fishing in the area. Jarvis Island's first known human contact came in 1821, when Captain Brown of the British ship Eliza Frances sighted it. The ship was owned by Edward, Thomas and William Jarvis. The United States, located over 5,000 kilometers away, claimed possession of Jarvis Island under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The act gave American citizens the right to claim any unclaimed, uninhabited islands for the purpose of mining guano, or bird droppings. The United States became interested in Jarvis again during 1935. At that time, it was unclear who owned Jarvis and other small uninhabited islands in the same general area.

Fernández lived on the islands for some years, stocking them with goats and pigs. Scottish seaman Alexander Selkirk was stranded there between 1704 and 1709, and his adventures are believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Analysis of the mitochondrial haplogroups found in the present-day population revealed that 79.1% of islanders carried European haplogroups, compared to 60.0% for the mainland Chileans from Santiago. The Juan Fernández rock lobster (Jasus frontalis) supports 70% of the economy,

On 27 February 2010, a tsunami struck the islands, following the 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Maule, Chile. There were at least at least 8 deaths. The only warning the islanders had come from a 12-year-old girl,

Kingman Reef

Midway Atoll

Palmyra Atoll

Wake Island

Relationship with Indigenous Oceanians

Labor recruitment

thumb|277x277px|Workers from various Oceanian countries at a [[pineapple farm in Queensland, Australia, 1890s.]]

Starting in 1863, natives from Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji, Kiribati and Tuvalu were recruited by European Australians to form a labor force, for the sugar industry in Queensland and other industries. The thought at the time was that whites could not labor properly in the tropics of far north Queensland. It has been established a proportion of these individuals were kidnapped/coerced by Australians, as was the case with Oceanian German colonists and Guatemalan/Mexican coffee plantation recruiters in the 19th century. This period in Australia's history causes debate, since a significant number of islanders are known to have come at their own free will.

Many of the islanders faced harsh working conditions and separation from their cultures. The labor unions opposed the presence of the islanders since they believed that white laborers were losing work opportunities, and that wages were being maintained at artificially low levels.

Following its independence from Britain in 1901, the Australian government passed the Immigration Restriction Act and Pacific Island Labourers Act, which is considered to be part of the wider White Australia policy. The act ordered the deportation of the workers to their home islands. The islanders who avoided deportation did not face the same level of discrimination from Australians as Aboriginals did. The main restriction put upon them was the Liquor Act 1912, which prohibited the supply of alcohol. Andrew Farrell, an Australian trader visiting Micronesia, recounted in his journals, "In return for copra, islanders first demanded tobacco, and it had to be the best. Scores of other articles were in demand, like cloths, axes and knives, hand sowing machines, scissors, needles and thread, mirrors and cones, hooks and line, pots and pans, mouth organs, rice, hard biscuits, beads, perfume and, in the Gilberts and Marshalls, rifles, flintlock muskets, revolvers, powder and shot." One of the earliest Australians to have lived in western Micronesia was John James Mahlmann.

Since the late 19th century, they have also had significant long-term contact with Papua New Guinea, creating a vast archival record of travel. The first large-scale movement of European Australians to the area began in the search for gold.

Australians rarely considered New Zealand part of the same region as other Polynesian islands, despite its geographic location and Māori origins. The historian Jim Davidson was simultaneously foundation professor of Pacific history at the Australian National University, author of Samoa mo Samoa [Samoa for the Samoans] (1967) and advisor in the drafting of constitutions for the newly independent Cook Islands, Nauru, Micronesia and Papua New Guinea. At the Australian National University in 1960, the art historian Bernard Smith wrote European Vision and the South Pacific 1768-1850, A study in the history of art and ideas, while Australian geographer Oskar Spate wrote an authoritative three-volume history of the Pacific, published between 1979 and 1988. The next biggest donors, New Zealand and China, were reported as having only donated one sixth of Australia's aid up until 2017. New Zealand in particular has substantial trade with Samoa and Tonga. Australia is the main development partner of the Solomon Islands, providing $187 million of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2018–19. During that same timeframe, Australia provided $572.2 million to Papua New Guinea, as well as pledging around $5–60 million to most other countries in the region. The program was conceived to last up until 2022.

Francis X. Hezel, a European American priest who moved to Micronesia in 1963, is well known in the area for his scholarly and educational work. The Micronesian Seminar, known as MicSem, was founded by Hezel in 1972. It is a private non profit, non governmental organization that engages in public education, with a purpose to assist the people of Micronesia in reflecting on life in their islands under the impact of change in recent years. Hezel has also written several books related to Micronesia.

Race mixing

thumb|German immigrant [[Hermann A. Widemann had a large family with his Hawaiian wife Mary Kaumana, 1886.]]

In Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii, mixing between Europeans and native ethnicities is common, with many having mixed race backgrounds. The history of European New Zealanders mixing with native Māori dates back to before 1840, when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed to give Māori equal rights. Pākehā (European) whalers, sealers and traders established liaisons with Māori women, resulting in mixed race children very early on in New Zealand's colonial history. The perpetrators were against the Kanak independence movement, and considered themselves European New Caledonian. The massacre was viewed by the pro-independence Kanak population as a desperate attempt to prove their Europeanness and reject their Melanesianness. They have successfully exported the sport to Oceanian countries which do not have a significant European population, such as Papua New Guinea and Nauru. When continental Europeans began arriving in large numbers during the 20th century, they formed Association football clubs (termed soccer clubs due to the prevalence of Australian rules and rugby). Examples of such clubs include Melbourne Knights (formed by Croatian immigrants), Marconi Stallions (formed by Italian immigrants) and Sydney Olympic (formed by Greek immigrants). They were all replaced at the top level with new clubs in 2005, due to fears that their ethnic-based identities were discriminatory. Many continental European Australians from the second generation onward have also since taken to Australian rules or rugby league.

thumb|upright=1.85|Oceania

Current European population in Oceania

The total population of people that have European ancestry in Oceania is over 26,000,000, with the inclusion of the population of Hawaii and the exclusion of Indonesia.

(European Australian) – 76% of the population or roughly 19,480,000 based on the 2016 census. They are of European Australian origin.
- Nearly all of the population of 47 have some form of European ancestry, they are Euronesian (Polynesian and European), with ancestry from Britain and Tahiti. Exact figures are not available.
– About 50% British-Polynesian from Pitcairn Island (1,070 people) and 50% British ancestry mainly via Australia (1,070 people).
– 85% of the population or roughly 21,000 have some form of European ancestry, 76% are Mestizos (half Indigenous American-half European), while 9% are solely European.
(New Zealand European) – 71.76% of the population or 3,372,708 people based on the 2018 census.
- Based on the 2002 census, 39% of the population or 1,478 have some form of European ancestry, they are either mixed Rapa Nui-European, Mestizo (half Indigenous American-half European), mixed Rapa Nui-Mestizo or solely European. People of mixed Rapa Nui-European blood are considered by the Chilean government, generic Chilean social views, & the whole Spanish-speaking region as Mestizos, as they possess European blood and Rapa Nui are native settlers of the island. However, pure blooded Rapa Nui are not genetically related to any Indigenous Americans, and do not share the same culture. The population of Easter Island had increased from 3,791 in 2002 to 7,750 in 2017, as such these figures may not be necessarily accurate today.
(Caldoche) – 27.1% of the population or about 71,700; the territory is part of France. – About 25% (460) of the population had European ancestry in 2016 (generic European Australian ancestry, as well as immediate English and Irish ancestry). 48% (884) of the population were listed as having undetermined ancestry in the census, meaning the figure for Europeans may not be accurate.
– 22.9% of the population (2020 U.S. census)
– About 12% (194) of the population have European ancestry. This figure also includes Asian residents, meaning it may be slightly inaccurate.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in Nauru are not kept track of. 9.1% (819) of the population are listed as "part Nauruan" or "Other" in the 2007 census, these individuals could be interpreted as being European or mixed European.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in FS Micronesia are not kept track of. 8.9% (9,116) of the population are listed as "Other" in the 2020 census, which could be interpreted as encompassing Europeans.
– 7.4% (14,493) of the population have some form of European ancestry, 7% are Euronesian (Polynesian and European ancestry) and 0.4% are solely European.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in Tokelau are not kept track of. A combined total of 6.4% (105) are listed as either "Other" or "Unspecified" in the 2019 census, these individuals could be interpreted as being European.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in American Samoa are not kept track of. A combined total of 3.9% (2,627) are listed as either "Other" or "Mixed" in the 2010 census, these individuals could be interpreted as being European or mixed European.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in Tonga are not kept track of. A combined total of 3.1% (3,135) are listed as either "part-Tongan", "Other" or "Unspecified" in the 2016 census, these individuals could be interpreted as being European and mixed European.
– 2% of the population have Spanish and European American ancestry (2000 Census) or about 1,800 people. Guam has a history of Spanish settlement before 1900 and is now under US rule.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in the Marshall Islands are not kept track of. 2% (1,063) of the population are listed as "Other" in the 2006 census, which could be interpreted as encompassing Europeans.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in Kiribati are not kept track of. 1.8% (1,982) of the population are listed as "Other" in the 2015 census, which could be interpreted as encompassing Europeans.
– 1.2% or roughly 233 of the population are listed as White (European) in the 2020 census.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in Vanuatu are not kept track of. 0.8% (2,424) of the population are listed as "non-Melanesian" in the 2016 census, which could be interpreted as encompassing Europeans.
– Figures regarding Europeans living in the Solomon Islands are not kept track of. 0.3% (2,055) of the population are listed as "Other" in the 2009 census, which could be interpreted as encompassing Europeans.
– The country has a population of 7,275,324 as of 2017. Figures regarding race are not available.
– Among the 11,558 residents, there is a small minority who were born in Metropolitan France or are of French descent. However, the exact figures are not known.
– The islands have a population of approximately 39 as of 2019. It is known that none of these individuals are Native Hawaiians, although there is no further information available. These are the only islands in the Hawaiian Archipelago that are not part of the state of Hawaii.
– Virtually all of the Bonin Islands' 2,440 inhabitants are Japanese citizens. This includes a proportion with ancestors from the United States and Europe. No exact figures are available.
– There are 380 inhabitants on the Islands. Figures regarding race are not available.
<small>(Also known as Marcus Island)</small> – 0% of the population. There are no human inhabitants on the Island.
– The census lists Tuvalu as being 96% Polynesian and 4% Micronesian. There is no "Other" category on the census, as such it could be interpreted that the country does not have residents of European origin.
– 0% of the population. There are no human inhabitants on the island.
– 0% of the population. There are no human inhabitants on the island. The island is considered uninhabitable, although there are indications of early visitors, most likely Micronesians or Polynesians drifting from windward islands.
– 0% of the population. There are no human inhabitants on the island.
– 0% of the population. There are no human inhabitants on the island. It is closed to public entry, and limited access for management needs is only granted by Letter of Authorization from the United States Air Force and a Special Use Permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
– 0% of the population. There are no human inhabitants on the island.
– 0% of the population. There are no human inhabitants on the island.
– 0% of the population. There have been no human inhabitants on the island since 1945.

The dominant European group of Australia are referred to as Anglo-Celtic Australians (although this does not include non-British Europeans); the proper term for Australians of European ancestry is European Australian. In New Zealand, the census gathers information on ethnicity, not ancestry. It shows the majority of the New Zealand population identify as New Zealand European. The term Pākehā used in some previous Censuses has a similar meaning.