James Cook’s expeditions to Australia and New Zealand between 1769 and 1778 sparked European interest in the region. Australia was home to approximately 650,000 Indigenous peoples, while New Zealand had a Māori population of around 250,000. Geographic isolation made Indigenous populations particularly vulnerable to disease, and the arrival of European settlers led to devastating population declines. By the 1890s, only about 93,000 Aboriginal Australians and 42,000 Māori remained, while British settler populations increasingly dominated both societies.

Australia initially functioned as a penal colony for British convicts. However, the discovery of gold in 1851 triggered a massive influx of European settlers (and some Chinese migrants), accelerating the end of penal transportation. By 1860, Australia had a population of roughly one million immigrants, and the settler population doubled over the next fifteen years. Australia eventually became a self-governing dominion within the British Empire. Colonial authorities implemented policies aimed at assimilating Indigenous peoples, including the removal of Aboriginal and so-called “mixed-race” children from their families in an effort to impose Anglo-Saxon culture.

European settlement in New Zealand proceeded more slowly. Early settlers hunted whales and seals and exported wool to British textile mills. By the early 1880s, New Zealand’s settler population reached approximately 500,000. British authorities encouraged self-government while maintaining imperial oversight. The introduction of European crops, such as the potato, transformed Māori agriculture, while the introduction of muskets altered warfare, contributing to intertribal conflicts during the 1840s. Christian missionaries converted much of the Māori population.

In 1840, Māori leaders signed the Treaty of Waitangi, granting governing authority to the British Crown. Disputes over the treaty’s translation and interpretation soon emerged, leading to armed conflict and the confiscation of large amounts of Māori land. In both Australia and New Zealand, Indigenous peoples were denied full citizenship rights, and English literacy requirements prevented many from voting.

capturing Malacca from the Portuguese and competing with Britain for control of Java. The discovery of valuable resources such as oil and tin, along with the expansion of rubber plantations, eventually led to Dutch domination of the Indonesian archipelago. Indigenous resistance was frequently suppressed through military force.

Dutch authorities claimed they were liberating Indigenous peoples from “backward” and “oppressive” systems, but colonial rule created rigid social hierarchies. Dutch settlers occupied the highest social positions, followed by educated Indonesians, while plantation laborers occupied the lowest. Farmers were often forced to devote at least one-fifth of their land to export crops such as coffee or sugar.

The Dutch constructed railways, roads, and telegraph lines to facilitate transportation, communication, and commerce. Large plantations required enormous labor forces, and Javanese, Chinese, Malay, Batak, and Indian workers were transported to plantations in Sumatra and Java. These laborers, often labeled “coolies,” were paid wages, but the system closely resembled forced labor. Harsh punishments—including beatings, electrocution, and suspension by limbs—were used to maintain discipline.

In 1890, U.S. naval officer Alfred T. Mahan published The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, arguing that control of the seas was essential to global power. At the time, the United States was rapidly industrializing and sought overseas markets, raw materials, and naval bases. The U.S. had already acquired small Pacific territories and established a naval station at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, then an independent monarchy ruled by Queen Liliʻuokalani.

In the late nineteenth century, a small group of American businessmen led by Sanford Dole, supported by the U.S. minister to Hawaii and backed by armed American troops, overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani and established a provisional government. In 1898, under President William McKinley, the United States formally annexed Hawaii as a strategic stepping stone to Asia and as a major producer of sugar and fruit. Most Hawaiians opposed annexation, but U.S. officials justified it as necessary to protect American economic interests. Hawaii remained a U.S. territory until after World War II, in part because many politicians opposed granting statehood to a population that was largely nonwhite. Plantation owners exploited legal loopholes to import cheap foreign labor, resulting in a population dominated by workers from China, Japan, and the Philippines.

In the Philippines, the United States used a local revolt as a pretext for imperial expansion. After centuries of Spanish rule, Filipino revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo led a rebellion and proclaimed independence in 1899. During the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces fought alongside Filipino rebels against Spain. However, fearing that rival powers such as Japan or Germany might seize the islands, the United States purchased the Philippines from Spain for $20 million, along with Guam and Puerto Rico.

Filipinos were outraged by what they saw as a betrayal, having replaced one colonial ruler with another. The United States integrated the Philippine economy into its own and retained political control, with the U.S. president appointing the colonial governor. While the colonial government built infrastructure such as roads, railroads, harbors, and hospitals, Filipinos gained limited political representation only in 1907. The Philippines remained an American colony until after World War II.