AD 1810

Kamehameha I becomes king of all Hawaii

AD 1815

First British missionaries arrive in New Zealand

AD 1819

Legal code established on the Society Islands

AD 1819

Death of Kamehameha I; Kamehameha II becomes king of Hawaii

AD 1821

Protestant missionaries arrive in Cook Islands

AD 1824

Kamehameha II of Hawaii visits England and dies there

AD 1830

Missionaries arrive in Fiji

AD 1830

Malietoa Vaiinupo of Savai'i becomes king of Samoa

AD 1831

Charles Darwin sets out on five-year voyage to Pacific for scientific research

AD 1834

French Catholic missionaries arrive Tuamotu Islands

AD 1840

Kamehameha III begins constitutional monarchy in Hawaii; first written Hawaiian constitution

AD 1840

Treaty of Waitangi: signed between British and Maoris in New Zealand

AD 1842

France annexes the Marquesas Islands and makes Tahiti a protectorate

AD 1845

Outbreak of New Zealand Wars; Maoris rebel against British over land rights

AD 1845

George Tupou I founds royal dynasty of Tonga

AD 1848

Hawaiian King Kamehameha III gives his people shares in the islands

AD 1859

Second New Zealand War breaks out over land disputes

AD 1861

Gold discovered in Otago, New Zealand

AD 1871

Cakobau, ruler of western Fiji, becomes king of Fiji

AD 1874

Prince David Kalakaua becomes ruler of Hawaii

AD 1874

Fiji becomes a British crown colony

AD 1875

Tongan Constitution comes into force

AD 1875

Measles epidemic wipes out one-third of the Fijian population

AD 1879

Britain establishes a naval station in Samoa

AD 1880

France annexes Tahiti as a colony

AD 1889

Malietoa Laupepa becomes king of Samoa

AD 1893

New Zealand becomes first country to give women the vote

AD 1893

Revolution in Hawaii overthrows Queen Liliuokalani

AD 1894

Republic of Hawaii declared

AD 1898

United States annexes Hawaii

AD 1899

US and Germany divide Samoa

AD 1900

New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands

AD 1900

Treaty of Amity: Britain guarantees Tonga's independence and protection from foreign aggression

AD 1906

Memorial obelisk unveiled at Gisborne to commemorate Captain Cook's first landing in New Zealand

AD 1907

Britain grants New Zealand dominion status

AD 1913

Wallis Islands become a French protectorate

AD 1914

New Zealand troops occupy German Samoa

AD 1914

Australian troops occupy German New Guinea

AD 1915

Britain annexes Gilbert and Ellice islands

AD 1918

Queen Salote becomes queen of Tonga

AD 1918

Influenza epidemic kills one fifth of population of Western Samoa

AD 1919

Japan receives former German territories of Marshall, Mariana and Caroline islands

AD 1920

New Zealand given mandate over Samoa

AD 1929

Uprising of Mau people of Samoa against New Zealand government

AD 1941

Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

AD 1942

Battle of Midway: US defeats Japan

AD 1944

US takes Marshall Islands and Guam

AD 1944

Australia and New Zealand sign the ANZAC Agreement

AD 1946

US tests atomic weapons at Bikini atoll, Marshall Islands

AD 1947

New Zealand gains full independence from Britain