Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap ratify the Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia
The Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia is the supreme law of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Australia & Oceania
Howard Florey conducts the first-ever clinical trials of penicillin
Florey’s discoveries, along with the discoveries of Alexander Fleming and Ernst Chain, are estimated to have saved over 200 million lives, and he is consequently regarded by the Australian scientific and medical community as one of its greatest figures.
The Mau movement pushes for Samoa’s independence
The Mau was a non-violent movement for Samoan independence from colonial rule during the first half of the 20th century. The movement had its beginnings on the island of Savai’i with the Mau a Pule resistance in the early 1900s with widespread support throughout the country by the late 1920s.
Six separate British self-governing colonies agree to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia, establishing a system of federalism in Australia.
British Parliament passes the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 to grant settlers self-governance
The Act made New Zealand independent in domestic matters for all intents and purposes from its earliest days as a British colony.
Jacob Roggeveen of The Netherlands becomes the first European to visit several South Pacific islands
Jacob Roggeveen was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but instead became the first European to visit Easter Island, Bora Bora, Maupiti of the Society Islands, and Samoa.
Abel Tasman becomes first European to explore New Zealand
Abel Tasman was the first known European explorer to reach the islands of Tasmania and New Zealand, and to sight the Fiji islands.
Europeans land in modern-day Australia for the first time ever
The first known landing in Australia by Europeans was by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606. Twenty-nine other Dutch navigators explored the western and southern coasts in the 17th century, and dubbed the continent New Holland.
Queen Salamasina comes to power in Samoa
Salamasina drew together all the great aristocratic bloodlines and links to supernatural power in a period of political transformation, to create a basis of legitimacy for the new power-brokers of Samoa.
The Portuguese become the first Europeans to visit modern-day Micronesia
European explorers, first the Portuguese in search of the Spice Islands (Indonesia) and then the Spanish, reached the Carolines in the sixteenth century.