The Pacific Ocean
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British Empire of the Pacific Ocean, shown and underlined in pink.

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Gilbert and Ellice Islands  Kiribati 1979

The Gilbert Islands are an archipelago of 16 islands that were discovered by John Byron in 1765. They were visited by Captains Gilbert and Marshall in 1788 and annexed by Great Britain in 1892. Britain also annexed a group of 8 small islands called the Phoenix Islands and the Ellice Islands from 1889-1892.
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands became a single crown colony in 1915. During WWII the islands in this area of the Pacific saw heavy fighting between the forces of Japan and the Allies.

Ellice Is. 1975  Tuvalu 1978

The Ellice islanders voted to secede from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony in 1974 and became independent as Tuvalu on 1st October 1978.
The Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands, Ocean (Banaba) Island and eight of the Line Islands, some of which are; Fanning (Tabuaeran) Island, Christmas (Kirimati) Island, Malden Island, Starbuck Island and Caroline Island became the independent nation of Kiribati on 12th July 1979.
Kiribati and Tuvalu are members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

An Island group that formed part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands until 1926 when administration for them passed to New Zealand. They remain a dependency of New Zealand.

Discovered by Captain Cook in 1777 the island group was proclaimed a British protectorate in 1888 followed by their annexation by the governor of New Zealand in 1901. The islands became internally self-governing in 1965 and are in ‘free association’ (dependency) with New Zealand.

The islanders’ hostility to Captain Cook in 1774 earned the island’s name from him. The hostility was due to a fear of foreign disease. The island became a British protectorate on 20th April 1900 and made a dependency of New Zealand in October 1900. The island became self-governing in free association with New Zealand in 1974.

The Kermadec Islands north of New Zealand, the Chatham Islands (named after H.M.S. Chatham in 1791), Bounty Islands (named after H.M.S. Bounty in 1788), Antipodes Islands and Auckland Islands situated to the South and East of New Zealand are all territories of that country.

Captain Cook visited the islands in 1773, naming them the Friendly Islands. In 1799 civil war broke out dragging on for many years. The islands eventually unified under Taufaahau, who became King with the name of George Tubou I. After his death in 1893, he was succeeded by his great-grandson who signed a treaty to put his Kingdom under British protection in 1900. During WWII Queen Salote Topou III placed the island’s resources at the disposal of the Allies.
Tonga became an independent member of the Commonwealth on 4th June 1970.

The islands became a German protectorate in 1899 and were seized by British Empire troops on the outbreak of WWI in 1914. The League of Nations mandated them to New Zealand in 1920. They were administered by New Zealand until their independence on 1st January 1962.
Western Samoa joined the Commonwealth in 1970.

Discovered by the British in 1798, the island became part of the German Marshall Islands in 1888. In 1914 the island was seized and apart from three years of Japanese occupation during WWII, remained under British, Australian and New Zealand administration until it’s independence on 31st January 1968.

A British Dependent Territory comprising the islands of; Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno.
Pitcairn Island was uninhabited when discovered by Philip Carteret in 1767 and he named the island after the midshipman who first sighted it.
On 28th April 1789 a mutiny broke out on H.M.S. Bounty employed by the British government to convey breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies. The commander, Lieutenant William Bligh was set adrift with some of the crew, who managed to make it to Timor. The 25 mutineers at first all returned to Tahiti, some remained and six of these eventually faced court martial in England, three were executed.
Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutiny, eight Englishman, six Polynesian men and twelve Polynesian women left Tahiti and took possession of Pitcairn Island in 1790. By 1800 all the men were dead except Alexander Smith, afterwards known as John Adams who successfully trained up the youthful generation left in his charge. Various ships visited the island and fear of drought in 1830 caused the islanders to vacate to Tahiti. However, they returned to Pitcairn in 1831. An adventurer, Joshua Hill arrived and claiming government authority tyrannised the islanders until his removal by a Royal Navy ship in 1838. They were moved off again in 1856 to Norfolk Island but many chose to return. Various visits found the colony in excellent order. The population in 1910 was about 170, in 1995 it was 54.

Norfolk Island was discovered by Captain Cook in 1774 and became a penal settlement for New South Wales in 1826. 194 Pitcairn islanders took the place of the convicts in 1856 and 40 of them returned to Pitcairn.
Norfolk Island is a part of Australia.