AD 1770-1830

European governments extended their involvement in the Pacific and Australia during this period. The British Government began colonising Australia in AD 1788, establishing it as a destination for its convicts following the loss of the American colonies, and developing a naval base from which to explore and extend trade in the region.

At the time they first encountered Europeans, most Indigenous Australians were living by hunting and gathering. However there were many different groups, with different ways of life. Recent archaeology in south-east Australia has revealed the existence of communities based on fish-farming with highly complex systems of irrigated ponds. The loss of land, the violence, and spread of new diseases which followed the arrival of the British colonisers, began a process that would reduce the Indigenous population by 90% by the early 20th century.

In the rest of the Pacific, voyagers from Britain, France and Spain continued to chart the geography, resources and fascinating peoples of the many varied islands. The establishment of European trading stations brought new goods and tools – as well as new diseases and firearms that had a devastating effect on the population of Oceania. Along with the traders came the Christian missionaries who rapidly spread throughout the islands.