Colonization in the Pacific

Colonization in the Pacific

In the past few hundred years the pacific islands have seen a spread of colonization by foreign countries into their own land. The foreign countries spread into the pacific and colonized and took over the lands from the native people. The Colonization in the Pacific began with the arrival of the first missionaries who came to spread the good news of God, the traders and whalers who came to trade and to do whaling, the prisoners and deserters who escaped ships that passed the Pacific islands on voyages, and the brave explorers who discovered other lands for their country. Then the colonial powers grew attention to the islands, wanting to claim it before others could, because of the great abundance of the mineral wealth, natural resources, and uses for strategic military purposes. The major colonial powers during this time were: Britain, Spain, Germany, France, the United States and other places such as New Zealand and Australia.

During the late 1700's to the early 1900's Britain took Pitcairn, ceded Fiji, and established protectorates over South East New Guinea, Southern Cook Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and the Solomons. After, the United States took Guam from Spain and also took Western Samoa by cession. Germany bought the northern Miranas and Cardines from Spain and took Western Samoa by Cession. They also established protectorates over North East New Guinea, the Bismarck Islands, and over the Marshall Islands. And then in the South American country of Chile, leaders annexes Easter Island. As you can see already most of the Islands of the Pacific are been bought, annexed, and influenced by western society and culture.

Work was scarce and hard to find due to unqualified workers in the early days of development in the Pacific Islands. Families sent their children to different countries where they received a formal education and got jobs with better salary. In return, they would send some of the money from their paychecks back to mom, dad, and the family. This helped the family while they worked. And it still happens today. For example, in Hawaii many people move here from the Philippines with the money from their families. In turn they give their families a part of each paycheck until the debt