Australasia in 1946

Our "The World as it was" Series takes us to Australasia just after World War II. While the effects of European colonisation were still felt, the first steps of decolonization had started in the early 20th Century with the independence of Australia and New Zealand from Great Britain.

The rest of the region was still dominated by European powers: The Dutch East Indies were a few years from achieving independence, Portugal still controlled East Timor, the Eastern half of New Guinea was split into two entities that were both controlled by Australia and joined to become independent as Papua-New Guinea in 1975. The Solomon Islands were under British sovereignty until 1978, New Caledonia was and remains French to this day, and the New Hebrides were under joint French and British sovereignty. They became independent as Vanuatu in 1980.