A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 26,000,000 62% of Oceania's population (2018)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Australia, Hawaii, New Caledonia and New Zealand | |
| Languages | |
| Predominantly English, French and Spanish[2][3] | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Anglicanism/Protestantism and Catholicism) and Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| European diaspora |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Oceanian Culture |
|---|
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 Oceania Portal |
European exploration and settlement of Oceania began in the 16th century, starting with the Spanish (Castilian) landings and shipwrecks in the Mariana Islands, east of the Philippines. This was followed by the Portuguese landing and settling temporarily (due to the monsoons) in some of the Caroline Islands and Papua New Guinea. Several Spanish landings in the Caroline Islands and New Guinea came after.[citation needed] Subsequent rivalry between European colonial powers, trade opportunities and Christian missions drove further European exploration and eventual settlement. After the 17th century Dutch landings in New Zealand and Australia, with no settlement in these lands, the British became the dominant colonial power in the region, establishing settler colonies in what would become Australia and New Zealand, both of which now have majority European-descended populations. States including New Caledonia (Caldoche),[4] Hawaii,[5] French Polynesia,[6] and Norfolk Island also have considerable European populations. Europeans remain a primary ethnic group in much of Oceania, both numerically and economically.[citation needed]
The areas covered in this article follow the guidelines set out by list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Oceania.
European settlement and colonization
Australasia
Australia and New Zealand
European settlement in Australia began in 1788 when the British established the Crown Colony of New South Wales with the first settlement at Port Jackson. New Zealand was part of New South Wales until 1840 when it became a separate colony and experienced a marked increase in European settlement.[citation needed]
While the largest European ethnic group to originally settle in both Australia and New Zealand were the English, the settler population in Australia from early times contained a large Irish Catholic component, in contrast to New Zealand which was more Scottish in composition.
For generations, the vast majority of both colonial-era settlers and post-independence immigrants to Australia and New Zealand came primarily from the British Isles. However, waves of European immigrants were later drawn from a broader range of countries. Australia, in particular, received large numbers of European immigrants from countries such as Italy, Greece, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands and Yugoslavia following the Second World War. Today, Australia has the largest Maltese population outside of Malta itself.[7] Up until the 1940s, fellow Anglosphere colony the United States had received more migrants from areas such as Southern Europe when compared to Australia.[8] A number of factors contributed to Australia's lower numbers, including the longer distance, the lack of industries in Australia at the time and because the Australian government were only able to cover travel costs for British migrants.[8]
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Between the end of World War II and 1955 alone, 850,000 Europeans came to Australia, including 171,000 "Displaced persons", war-time and post-war emigrants resettled in the country by arrangement with the International Refugee Organization.[10] These immigrants were scattered in both urban and rural areas throughout Australia.[10] Assimilation policies of the 1940s and 1950s required new continental European arrivals to learn English, adopt to pre-existing European Australian cultural practices and become indistinguishable from the Australian-born population as quickly as possible.[11] This was also the case in New Zealand, with their government believing that continental Europeans could easily assimilate to the pre-existing culture.[12] The Australian-born population were often encouraged to forge friendships with the new arrivals.[10] For example, in 1950 the New South Wales State Minister for Immigration publicly requested residents of Goulburn to invite new Australians into their homes on Australia Day.[10] The suggestion was supported by Christian churches in the city.[10] A government program known as the Good Neighbour Council operated in Australian communities, with the specific aim of encouraging locals to establish friendships with post-World War II immigrants.[10] The New Settlers League, formed after World War I, was a collaboration between the government and civil society, and served many of the same purposes as the Good Neighbour Council around this time.[13] It assisted new Australian immigrants not only in assimilating, but also in finding employment.[13]
By the time restrictions on non-white immigration began being lifted in the late 1960s, the governments had already moved towards a policy of integration, where new immigrants were allowed to retain their original cultural identities.[11][14] This echoed developments in other immigrant-receiving countries outside of Oceania, notably Canada.[11] James Forrest and Michael Poulsen from Macquarie University wrote in 2003, "the melting pot approach did not properly grasp the full nature of the processes involved. In the United States this led to a realization that, as many ethnic minority groups were assimilated, losing original sources of differentiation like language and culture, they were in fact reconstituted as something else while remaining as identifiable group. In Australia and Canada, the new perspective resolved around multiculturalism, focusing on the positive aspects of ethnic diversity and the identity of migrant groups."[15]
In March 2022, the Australian government granted temporary visas to approximately 5,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country.[16][17]
The current top 25 European ethnic groups in Australia as of 2016 are as follows: