Oceania History Sampler Trivia Quiz

Answer: Guam

Having successfully negotiated the dangerous passage around the southern tip of South America, and entered the Pacific Ocean at the end of November 1520, Magellan's ships found themselves in a much larger ocean than they had expected. By the time they dropped anchor in Guam, in March 1521, several men had died, others were sick and provisions were short. Their interactions with the Chamorro people of Guam were confrontational, with a certain amount of thievery followed by retaliation and at least one dead islander. After a brief stay, Magellan and his ships carried on to the Philippines, where more conflict resulted in the leader's death. One ship of the fleet and under twenty men completed the first circumnavigation of the world, returning to Spain in September 1522.

Guam is described as an "organized, unincorporated territory" of the USA, a relationship that began after the Spanish-American War of 1898, when Guam was ceded by Spain to the US under the Treaty of Paris. During World War II the Japanese occupied Guam from December 1941 until Liberation Day in July 1944, when US forces retook the island. It had continued to be a major base for US military forces, which are a major contributor to the economy of the territory, as is tourism.

Answer: Tonga

Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire arrived in the midst of a civil war between factions of the ruling family of the Tongan maritime empire, which had existed for four centuries by then. Neither their visit, nor that of their countryman Abel Tasman, a few decades later, had much impact on these islands. It was only with the arrival of Captain James Cook in the eighteenth century and subsequent missionary expeditions that European influence began to be felt.

After decades of civil war, King George Toupou I became the islands' first modern monarch in 1845, and during his reign the unification of the islands took place, in 1875. From 1900 until 1970, when independence was gained, the Kingdom of Tonga was a protectorate of the Britain, under the Treaty of Friendship signed in 1900. The country became a member of the United Nations in 1999, having joined the Commonwealth of Nations upon independence. Election reforms in the 21st century have sought to give more power to the common people.

Answer: Australia

The more enduring name, of course, was Botany Bay, given to the area by Cook in honour of the work done by the botanists aboard Endeavour in finding and cataloguing the many plants found there. The original name had made reference to the large population of stingrays in the bay.

The eventual settlement of the area around Botany Bay and nearby Port Jackson would in time grow to be the city of Sydney, which grew from penal colony to thriving metropolis over the course of the next two centuries.

Answer: Palau

The packet Antelope, barely two years old when it was wrecked, had travelled safely from England to Macao, in China, carrying despatches in late 1781. After having visited Calcutta, India and returned to Macao, she departed that place on 20 July 1783. About three weeks later she was wrecked on a reef off Ulong (Oroolong) Island in the "Pelew" Islands (Palau). Captain Henry Wilson and his crew were assisted by natives to build a smaller craft, in which they were able to return to Macao by November of the same year. A native prince accompanied them, apparently willingly, but sadly died of smallpox not long after arriving in England in 1784.

Consisting of about 340 islands, Palau gained full sovereignty in 1994, after over a century of foreign rule of one sort or another, including Spanish, German, Japanese and as part of a US Trust Territory following World War II.

Answer: New Zealand

Ably led by women like Kate Sheppard (1847-1934), the New Zealand women's suffrage movement had both supporters and opponents amongst the male population, including in parliament. After several attempts, and obtaining over 20000 signatures on petitions, success was achieved in 1893 with the passage, and signing into law of a bill that gave the right to vote to all women over 21, who were also British subjects (including Maori women). New Zealand thus became the first self-governing nation to grant women the right to vote in national elections, although they would have to wait another couple of decades for the right to run for parliament.

Answer: Papua New Guinea

By the time she took off from Lae, Papua New Guinea on 2 July 1937, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, had already flown over 22,000 miles, in their attempted circumnavigation, having started in Oakland, CA in May of the same year. Her next stop was to have been at Howland Island, a speck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but her aircraft never arrived there. Speculation as to what happened to Earhart and Noonan has continued into the 21st century. Occupying the eastern portion of the island of New Guinea, Papua New Guinea (PNG) gained its independence from Australia in 1975.

Answer: Solomon Islands

Operating from the base at Rendova, in the Solomons, PT 109 was a patrol torpedo boat, with a crew of thirteen. On patrol in August 1943, she was cut in half when rammed by a Japanese destroyer, with the loss of two members of the crew. Future American president Kennedy famously encouraged the survivors to swim for shore, helping the most badly injured himself. Kennedy persisted in swimming out into the channel to seek help, and eventually contacted natives who carried a message for him resulting in the rescue of the crew.

The Solomon Islands, consisting of six large islands and hundreds of smaller (often uninhabited) isles, was heavily engaged during World War II, commencing with the retaking of Guadalcanal by American forces in 1942. Naval, air and land battles in the region continued until the latter part of the war. Full independence, from Great Britain, was achieved in 1978.

Answer: Fiji

Fiji actually issued more than one stamp honouring their VC hero. In 1969, a 25c stamp marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Cpl Sefanaia Sukanaivalu's heroic deed, and death. An 87c stamp also bearing his image was issued in 1995, to mark fifty years since the end of WWII. Corporal Sukanaivalu was 26 years old and serving in the Fiji Infantry Regiment (considered at the time to be part of the UK forces) when he sacrificed his life whilst saving others, during fighting on Bougainville, Solomon Islands in June 1944.

His VC was posthumously awarded. Fiji, consisting of more than 300 islands, gained independence from Britain in 1970, and became a republic in 1987.

Answer: Vanuatu

Formerly known as the New Hebrides, jointly governed by France and the UK, Vanuatu was scheduled, by agreement, to become independent at the end of July 1980. Rebels opposed to the existing plans, secretly backed by France, staged an uprising in June, centred around the island of Espiritu Santo, which they declared to be an independent state. Troops were brought in from Papua New Guinea and the rebellion fizzled out.

The moniker "Coconut War" was given to the affair by the foreign press.

Answer: Tuvalu

Back in the mid-1990s, when people were beginning to know about ".com" and ".org" as extensions to URLs (and even about URLs), top level country code extensions were being assigned, usually based on letters in the name of the country. Tuvalu was assigned ".tv" which was eventually recognised as having great value, especially with the rise of streaming television channels and websites.

The country has been able to supplement its income by licensing use of ".tv" to such sites. Tuvalu, a tiny country comprised of nine islands, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, gained its independence from Great Britain in 1978, and has remained a member of the Commonwealth.