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| 1768–71 |
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| The first voyage of Captain James Cook to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti. He then sailed around the North and South Islands of New Zealand and along the eastern coast of Australia. | 1 |
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| 1772–74 |
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| Cook's second voyage to find the Terra Australis, which his voyage proved did not exist. | 2 |
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| 1776–79 |
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| Cook's third voyage in search of a passage from Hudson Bay to the Pacific. He was killed at Kealakekua Bay (Hawaii) in February 1779. The surviving sailors returned to England via the East Indies and the Cape of Good Hope. | 3 |
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| 1785–88 |
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| Jean-François de La Pérouse (French) entered the Pacific with his two ships, Astrolabe and Boussole, and explored Samoa, where his crew encountered hostility. Both the ships were wrecked at Vanikoro (Solomons), and La Pérouse's own fate remains unknown. | 4 |
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| 1788, Jan. 18 |
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| The first shipload of British convicts was landed at Botany Bay, Australia, and the foundation of Sydney (Port Jackson). Britain claimed Australia east of 135° east longitude. | 5 |
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| 1789 |
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| Mutiny on the HMS Bounty (April 28) under the command of Lieutenant William Bligh, who had been sent to Tahiti to procure breadfruit for transportation to the West Indies. Mutineers from the ship settled on Pitcairn Island, which was annexed by Britain in 1838. | 6 |
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| 1791–93 |
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| Captain George Vancouver discovered the Chatham Islands and sailed to Hawaii, where he became embroiled in the islands' internal political affairs. | 7 |
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| 1792–93 |
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| Bruni d'Entrecasteaux (French) visited many Pacific Islands in search of La Pérouse and examined New Caledonia closely. (See The Pacific Islands, 1794–1914) | 8 |
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