It was founded in 1947 as the South Pacific Commission, by six developed countries with an interest in the region:
The Netherlands later resigned its membership. The SPC was founded to aid the following Pacific island countries and territories, which since 1983 have been full members:
American Samoa, Cook Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.
Initially, these were all territories of colonial powers, but many are now independent.