Editing Oceania (section)

====European settlement and colonisation====
{{See also|History of Australia (1788–1850)|History of New Zealand}}
[[File:New Guinea (1884-1919).png|thumb|New Guinea from 1884 to 1919. The Netherlands controlled the western half of New Guinea, [[German Empire|Germany]] the north-eastern part, and Britain the south-eastern part.]]
In 1789, the [[mutiny on the Bounty]] against [[William Bligh]] led to several of the mutineers escaping the [[Royal Navy]] and settling on [[Pitcairn Islands]], which later became a British colony. Britain also established colonies in Australia in 1788, New Zealand in 1840 and [[Colonial Fiji|Fiji]] in 1872, with much of Oceania becoming part of the [[British Empire]]. The [[Gilbert Islands]] (now known as [[Kiribati]]) and the Ellice Islands (now known as [[Tuvalu]]) came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century.<ref name="TAHNPT" /><ref name="cinderella1" />

French Catholic missionaries arrived on Tahiti in 1834; their expulsion in 1836 caused France to send a gunboat in 1838. In 1842, Tahiti and [[Tahuata]] were declared a [[Protectorate|French protectorate]], to allow Catholic missionaries to work undisturbed.<ref name="KMLA1889" /> On 24 September 1853, under orders from [[Napoleon III]], Admiral [[Auguste Febvrier Despointes|Febvrier Despointes]] took formal possession of New Caledonia.<ref name="ped" />

The Spanish explorer [[Alonso de Salazar]] landed in the Marshall Islands in 1529. They were named by [[Adam Johann von Krusenstern|Krusenstern]], after English explorer [[John Marshall (British captain)|John Marshall]], who visited them together with [[Thomas Gilbert (captain)|Thomas Gilbert]] in 1788, en route from [[Botany Bay]] to [[Guangzhou|Canton]] (two ships of the [[First Fleet]]). In 1905, the British government transferred some administrative responsibility over southeast New Guinea to Australia (which renamed the area "[[Territory of Papua]]"); and in 1906, transferred all remaining responsibility to Australia. The Marshall Islands were claimed by Spain in 1874. Germany established colonies in New Guinea in 1884, and [[German Samoa|Samoa]] in 1900. The United States also expanded into the Pacific, beginning with [[Baker Island]] and [[Howland Island]] in 1857, and with Hawai{{okina}}i becoming a [[Territory of Hawaii|US territory]] in 1898. Disagreements between the US, the UK, and Germany over Samoa led to the [[Tripartite Convention (1899)|Tripartite Convention of 1899]].<ref name="amesagrey" />