The Pacific Islands: From Samoa to Vanuatu

Decolonization reached the Pacific later than most regions. Western Samoa, a New Zealand trust territory where the Mau movement had long campaigned for self-rule, became the first independent Pacific island state on 1 January 1962. Nauru followed in 1968, Fiji in 1970, Papua New Guinea from Australia in 1975, and the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati in 1978–79.

Vanuatu, formerly the New Hebrides, had been ruled jointly by Britain and France as a 'condominium', with two police forces and two school systems; its independence in 1980 came amid a brief secession attempt on the island of Espiritu Santo. Pacific transitions were mostly peaceful but raised distinctive issues: tiny populations spread over vast oceans, ethnic balance in Fiji between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians, and the importance of customary land.

Some territories, such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia, stayed linked to France; New Caledonia voted against independence in three referendums between 2018 and 2021, the last boycotted by most independence supporters, and its future status remained under negotiation afterward.