-
900 BCE
Fiji
Fiji is a place where it was accidentally found by Abel Tasman in 1643. The Polynesians had found it much before them like all the other Pacific Islands -
800 BCE
Samoa
Samoa was spotted by Jacob Roggeveen but it wasn't until 1830 when John Williams had actually set foot on land. -
788 BCE
Tonga
Tonga was discovered by Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Mairehad. They had found it by spotting some Tongans in a canoe. -
700 BCE
Easter Island
Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen was the first European to discover Easter Island. The Dutch had named it to Paaseiland (Easter Island) to remember the day they arrived. -
500 BCE
Tahiti
Samuel Wallis was the first explorer who was talked about discovering Tahiti. He had sailed on his boat named HMS Dolphin to Tahiti and claimed it in the name of King George III -
400 BCE
Hawaii
James Cook had led 3 voyages to unknown parts of the earth and on his 3rd voyage, he encountered Hawaii. -
800
Rarotonga
The first Europeans had officially discovered the island in September or October 1813 but hadn't set foot until the year after. -
1021
New Zealand (Aotearoa)
Kupe had set sail from Hawaiiki to a land he knew was there. How? Birds. He had followed them South because he knew there must be land there for the birds to survive. He set off in search of this land and found it. It was known as Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud.