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| 1521 |
| | | Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan crosses the Pacific in ninety-nine days and reaches Guam | |
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| 1568 |
| | | Discovery of the Solomon Islands by a Spanish ship prompts interest in a possible Terra Australis Incognita ('unknown southern land') | |
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| 1643 |
| | | Abel Tasman reaches yet more islands previously unknown to Europeans – Tonga and Fiji | |
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| 1709 |
| | | Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, is discovered on a Pacific island where he has survived alone for nearly five years | |
|  | Fleet marriage of original Robinson Crusoe, c.1718
National Archives, Kew
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| 1722 |
| | | Easter Island is reached by the Dutch, beginning a spate of European discovery in the islands of the Pacific | |
|  | Hodges Monuments on Easter Island (detail)
National Maritime Museum
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| 1768 |
| | | Captain James Cook sails from Plymouth, in England, heading for Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus | |
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| 1769 |
| | | Captain Cook observes in Tahiti the transit of Venus, the primary purpose of his voyage to the Pacific | |
|  | Hodges Tahiti Revisited (detail)
National Maritime Museum
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| 1772 |
| | | Captain Cook sets off, in HMS Resolution, on his second voyage to the southern hemisphere | |
|  | Mourner's costume from Tahiti
Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
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| 1779 |
| | | British explorer Captain James Cook is killed in a skirmish with natives in Hawaii over a stolen boat | |
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| 1789 |
| | | Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny on HMS Bounty against the captain, William Bligh | |
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