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116-517: The larger islets are: Historical artifacts have been unearthed on the Atoll which date back to ca. 380 C.E., including tools likely used by early Micronesian peoples . Its first recorded sighting was by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on board the ship Florida on 29 December 1527. Together with Rongelap , Ailinginae and Toke atolls, they were charted as Islas de los Reyes (Islands of

232-585: A prehistoric seaborne migration , known as the Austronesian expansion, from Taiwan , circa 3000 to 1500 BCE. Austronesians reached the northernmost Philippines, specifically the Batanes Islands , by around 2200 BCE. They used sails some time before 2000 BCE. In conjunction with their use of other maritime technologies (notably catamarans , outrigger boats , lashed-lug boats , and the crab claw sail ), this enabled phases of rapid dispersal into

348-576: A stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Micronesian peoples The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia , a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean . They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan . Ethno-linguistic groups classified as Micronesian include

464-476: A "subrace" of the "Malay" race) were also now being treated as a separate "Ethiopian" race by authors like Georges Cuvier , Conrad Malte-Brun (who first coined the term " Oceania " as Océanique ), Julien-Joseph Virey , and René Lesson . The British naturalist James Cowles Prichard originally followed Blumenbach by treating Papuans and Indigenous Australians as being descendants of the same stock as Austronesians. But by his third edition of Researches into

580-643: A Voyage round the World (1778), he posited that the ultimate origins of the Polynesians might have been the lowland regions of the Philippines and proposed that they arrived to the islands via long-distance voyaging. The Spanish philologist Lorenzo Hervás later devoted a large part of his Idea dell'universo (1778–1787) to the establishment of a language family linking the Malay Peninsula ,

696-402: A cultural region, as they have much more in common with each other in cultural practices and social organization than with other neighboring societies in the Philippines, Indonesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. The Micronesian cultures evolved from a common foundation and share a common dominator in the relationship and dependence they have with their ancestral lands. The ancestral land influenced

812-721: A large group of peoples in Taiwan , Maritime Southeast Asia , parts of Mainland Southeast Asia , Micronesia , coastal New Guinea , Island Melanesia , Polynesia , and Madagascar that speak Austronesian languages . They also include indigenous ethnic minorities in Vietnam , Cambodia , Myanmar , Thailand , Hainan , the Comoros , and the Torres Strait Islands . The nations and territories predominantly populated by Austronesian-speaking peoples are sometimes known collectively as Austronesia. They originated from

928-782: A large sub-family called the Chuukic–Pohnpeic languages containing 11 languages. The Yapese language is a separate branch of the Oceanic languages, outside of the Micronesian branch. Two Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken that do not belong to the Oceanic languages : Chamorro in the Mariana Islands and Palauan in Palau . Micronesian navigation techniques are those navigation skills used for thousands of years by

1044-725: A minority of authors. Notable proponents include William Meacham , Stephen Oppenheimer , and Wilhelm Solheim . For various reasons, they have proposed that the homelands of Austronesians were within Island Southeast Asia (ISEA), particularly in the Sundaland landmass drowned during the end of the Last Glacial Period by rising sea levels. Proponents of these hypotheses point to the ancient origins of mtDNA in Southeast Asian populations, pre-dating

1160-528: Is Carolinian , called Refaluwasch by native speakers, which has a total of about 5,700 speakers. The Refaluwasch have a matriarchal society in which respect is a very important factor in their daily lives, especially toward the matriarchs . Most Refaluwasch are of the Roman Catholic faith. The immigration of Refaluwasch to Saipan began in the early 19th century, after the Spanish reduced

1276-650: Is also another explanation for the correspondences that do not require a genetic relationship. In relation to Sino-Austronesian models and the Longshan interaction sphere, Roger Blench (2014) suggests that the single migration model for the spread of the Neolithic into Taiwan is problematic, pointing out the genetic and linguistic inconsistencies between different Taiwanese Austronesian groups. The surviving Austronesian populations in Taiwan should rather be considered as

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1392-507: Is also known as Hatohobei or Tobi. It is closely related to Sonsorolese . The Tobians share a cultural heritage that shows close ties with peoples of the central Caroline Islands , more than 1000 km to the northeast and on the other side of Palau. The Yapese people are a Micronesian ethnic group that number around 15,000. They are native to the main island of Yap and speak the Yapese language . Fifteen distinct languages are spoken by

1508-571: Is also popularly used for the Indonesian islands. Austronesian regions are almost exclusively islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, with predominantly tropical or subtropical climates with considerable seasonal rainfall. Inhabitants of these regions include Taiwanese indigenous peoples , most ethnic groups in Brunei , East Timor , Indonesia , Madagascar , Malaysia , Micronesia ,

1624-403: Is also problematic, particularly erroneous reconstructions among some Chinese archaeologists of non-Sinitic sites as Han . Some authors, favoring the "Out of Sundaland" model, like William Meacham , reject the southern Chinese mainland origin of pre-Austronesians entirely. Nevertheless, based on linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence, Austronesians are most strongly associated with

1740-672: Is an estimated 6,000 people of Banaban descent in Fiji and other countries. The Banabans spoke the Banaban language , which has gone extinct due to a shift to the Gilbertese language, introduced by Christian missionaries that translated the Bible into Gilbertese and encouraged the Banabans to read it. Today, only a few words remain of the original Banaban language. Today, the Banabans speak

1856-494: Is based on sound correspondences in basic vocabulary and morphological parallels. Sagart places special significance in shared vocabulary on cereal crops, citing them as evidence of shared linguistic origin. However, this has largely been rejected by other linguists. The sound correspondences between Old Chinese and Proto-Austronesian can also be explained as a result of the Longshan interaction sphere , when pre-Austronesians from

1972-667: Is derived from a composite protoform *Cau ma-qata, combining "Tau" and "Qata" and indicative of the mixing of the two ancestral population types in these regions. The broad consensus on the Urheimat (homeland) of Austronesian languages as well as the Neolithic early Austronesian peoples is accepted to be Taiwan , as well as the Penghu Islands . They are believed to have descended from ancestral populations in coastal mainland southern China, which are generally referred to as

2088-635: Is genetic evidence that at least in western Island Southeast Asia , there had been earlier Neolithic overland migrations (pre-4,000 BP) by Austroasiatic-speaking peoples into what is now the Greater Sunda Islands when the sea levels were lower, in the early Holocene . These peoples were assimilated linguistically and culturally by incoming Austronesian peoples in what is now modern-day Indonesia and Malaysia. Several authors have also proposed that Kra-Dai speakers may actually be an ancient daughter subgroup of Austronesians that migrated back to

2204-455: Is in fact no "apical" ancestor of Austronesian in the sense that there was no true single Proto-Austronesian language that gave rise to present-day Austronesian languages. Instead, multiple migrations of various pre-Austronesian peoples and languages from the Chinese mainland that were related but distinct came together to form what we now know as Austronesian in Taiwan. Hence, Blench considers

2320-449: Is sometimes referred to as "Austronesia". Other geographic names for various subregions include Malay Peninsula , Greater Sunda Islands , Lesser Sunda Islands , Island Melanesia , Island Southeast Asia , Malay Archipelago , Maritime Southeast Asia , Melanesia , Micronesia , Near Oceania , Oceania , Pacific Islands , Remote Oceania , Polynesia , and Wallacea . In Indonesia, the nationalistic term Nusantara , from Old Javanese ,

2436-435: Is the "Out of Taiwan" model first proposed by Peter Bellwood . But there are multiple rival models that create a sort of "pseudo-competition" among their supporters due to narrow focus on data from limited geographic areas or disciplines. The most notable of which is the "Out of Sundaland" (or "Out of Island Southeast Asia") model. Austronesians were the first humans with seafaring vessels that could cross large distances on

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2552-498: Is the center of their farming practices, although breadfruit has a symbolic importance. The Pohnpeians or Ponapeans are the indigenous people of Pohnpei . They number around 28,000. They speak the Pohnpeian language . Pohnpeian historic society was highly structured into five tribes, various clans and sub-clans; each tribe headed by two principal chiefs. The tribes were organized on a feudal basis. In theory, "all land belonged to

2668-550: The Carolinians ( Northern Mariana Islands ), Chamorros ( Guam & Northern Mariana Islands ), Chuukese , Mortlockese , Namonuito , Paafang , Puluwat and Pollapese ( Chuuk ), I-Kiribati ( Kiribati ), Kosraeans ( Kosrae ), Marshallese ( Marshall Islands ), Nauruans ( Nauru ), Palauan , Sonsorolese , and Hatohobei ( Palau ), Pohnpeians , Pingelapese , Ngatikese , Mwokilese ( Pohnpei ), and Yapese , Ulithian , Woleian , Satawalese ( Yap ). Based on

2784-656: The Cham areas in Vietnam , Cambodia , and Hainan ; and the Mergui Archipelago of Myanmar. Additionally, modern-era migration has brought Austronesian-speaking people to the United States, Canada, Australia, the UK, mainland Europe , Cocos (Keeling) Islands , South Africa, Sri Lanka , Suriname , Hong Kong , Macau , and West Asian countries . Some authors also propose further settlements and contacts in

2900-615: The Federated States of Micronesia . The Sonsorolese are linguistically related to the Tobians. Most Sonsorolese live in the village of Echang near Koror , where they moved for economic reasons. The Sonsorolese are both linguistically and culturally most closely related to Carolinians. Ethnographic information about them was left by Jose Somera , a member of the Don Francisco Padilla expedition who discovered

3016-668: The Gilbert Islands , Marshall Islands , eastern and central Caroline Islands , Sonsorol , Pulo Anna , Merir and Tobi . The migrants from the east belonged to the Lapita culture and settled eastern Micronesia over the course of several hundreds of years from perhaps the Santa Cruz Islands , around 500-100 BC. In the following centuries, the Oceanic language variant brought by the Lapita migrants diverged and became

3132-563: The Hayato people , the Kumaso , and the Azumi were of Austronesian origin. Until today, local traditions and festivals show similarities to Malayo-Polynesian culture. The Sino-Austronesian hypothesis , on the other hand, is a relatively new hypothesis by Laurent Sagart , first proposed in 1990. It argues for a north–south linguistic genetic relationship between Chinese and Austronesian. This

3248-704: The Maldives , Madagascar, Indonesia ( Sunda Islands and Moluccas ), the Philippines , and the Pacific Islands eastward to Easter Island . Multiple other authors corroborated this classification (except for the erroneous inclusion of Maldivian ), and the language family came to be known as "Malayo-Polynesian", first coined by the German linguist Franz Bopp in 1841 ( German : malayisch-polynesisch ). The connections between Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and

3364-613: The Micronesian branch of the Oceanic languages. John Lynch tentatively proposes a relationship between the Micronesian languages and the Loyalty Islands languages of Melanesia, but with the caveat "that this is something that could well be further investigated, even if only to confirm that Micronesian languages did not originate in the Loyalties." Yap was settled separately approximately 2000 years ago, as its language

3480-1052: The Pacific coast of the Americas, Japan, the Yaeyama Islands , the Australian coast, Sri Lanka and coastal South Asia , the Persian Gulf , some Indian Ocean islands, East Africa , South Africa, and West Africa . Austronesian peoples include the following groupings by name and geographic location (incomplete): The broad consensus on Austronesian origins is the "two-layer model", where an original Paleolithic indigenous population in Island Southeast Asia were assimilated to varying degrees by incoming migrations of Neolithic Austronesian-speaking peoples from Taiwan and Fujian , in southern China, from around 4,000  BP . Austronesians also mixed with other preexisting populations as well as later migrant populations among

3596-527: The Pearl River Delta from Taiwan and/or Luzon , shortly after the Austronesian expansion, later migrating further westwards to Hainan, Mainland Southeast Asia , and Northeast India . They propose that the distinctiveness of Kra-Dai (it is tonal and monosyllabic ) was the result of linguistic restructuring due to contact with Hmong-Mien and Sinitic cultures. Aside from linguistic evidence, Roger Blench has also noted cultural similarities between

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3712-712: The Philippines , and Polynesia . Also included are the Malays of Singapore ; the Polynesians of New Zealand , Hawaii , and Chile ; the Torres Strait Islanders of Australia; the non- Papuan peoples of Melanesia and coastal New Guinea ; the Shibushi speakers of the Comoros , and the Malagasy and Shibushi speakers of Réunion . Austronesians are also found in the regions of Southern Thailand ;

3828-1198: The Pitcairns , the Kermadec Islands , and the Norfolk Islands were also formerly settled by Austronesians but later abandoned. There is also putative evidence, based in the spread of the sweet potato , that Austronesians may have reached South America from Polynesia, where they might have traded with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas . In the Indian Ocean, Austronesians in Maritime Southeast Asia established trade links with South Asia . They also established early long-distance contacts with Africa, possibly as early as before 500 BCE, based on archaeological evidence like banana phytoliths in Cameroon and Uganda and remains of Neolithic chicken bones in Zanzibar . By

3944-604: The Pleistocene made some of the modern-day islands of Sundaland accessible via land bridges. However, the spread of humans across the Wallace line and into Sahul necessitated crossing bodies of water. Remains of stone tools and marine shells in Liang Sarru, Salibabu Island , North Sulawesi, dated to 32,000–35,000 years ago, is possible evidence for the longest sea voyage by Paleolithic humans ever recorded. The island

4060-644: The Wallacea obsidian network ( Timor , Atauro , Kisar , Alor , ca.22,000 BP). However, the method of crossing remains unknown and could have ranged from simple rafts to dugout canoes by the terminal Pleistocene. These early settlers are generally historically referred to as " Australo-Melanesians ", though the terminology is problematic, as they are genetically diverse, and most groups within Austronesia have significant Austronesian admixture and culture. The unmixed descendants of these groups today include

4176-467: The alap managed the clan and the rijerbal (worker) were commoners that worked the land. The three social classes treated each other well and with mutual respect. The Nauruans are an ethnicity inhabiting the Pacific island of Nauru . They are most likely a blend of other Pacific peoples . The origin of the Nauruan people has not yet been finally determined. It can possibly be explained by

4292-562: The crab claw sail ), which enabled their rapid dispersal into the islands of the Indo-Pacific . From 2000 BCE the Austronesians assimilated (or were assimilated by) the earlier populations on the islands in their migration pathway. This intermingling occurred in the northern coast of New Guinea and adjacent islands, which was the location where the Oceanic language family developed around four thousand years or so ago, after

4408-577: The foxtail millet -cultivating Longshan culture of Shandong (with Longshan-type cultures found in southern Taiwan), the fishing-based Dapenkeng culture of coastal Fujian, and the Yuanshan culture of northernmost Taiwan, which Blench suggests may have originated from the coast of Guangdong . Based on geography and cultural vocabulary, Blench believes that the Yuanshan people may have spoken Northeast Formosan languages . Thus, Blench believes that there

4524-406: The "people from the southern world". In the third edition, published in 1795, he named Austronesians the " Malay race ", or the " brown race ", after correspondence with Joseph Banks , who was part of the first voyage of James Cook . Blumenbach used the term "Malay" due to his belief that most Austronesians spoke the "Malay idiom" (i.e., the Austronesian languages ), though he inadvertently caused

4640-547: The "pre‑Austronesians". Through these pre-Austronesians, Austronesians may also share a common ancestry with neighboring groups in Neolithic southern China. These Neolithic pre-Austronesians from the coast of southeastern China are believed to have migrated to Taiwan between approximately 10,000 and 6000 BCE. Other research has suggested that, according to radiocarbon dates, Austronesians may have migrated from mainland China to Taiwan as late as 4000 BCE ( Dapenkeng culture ). They continued to maintain regular contact with

4756-489: The 5th to 7th centuries CE. It is likely that the Austronesians that settled Madagascar followed a coastal route through South Asia and East Africa, rather than directly across the Indian Ocean. Genetic evidence suggests that some individuals of Austronesian descent reached Africa and the Arabian Peninsula . A competing hypothesis to the "Out of Taiwan" model is the "Out of Sundaland " hypothesis, favored by

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4872-553: The Austronesian expansion (estimated to have started at around 500 BCE) also resulted in gradual population turnover. These secondary migrations were incremental and happened gradually enough that the culture and language of these groups remained Austronesian, even though in modern times, they are genetically more Papuan. In the vast majority of cases, the language and material culture of Austronesian-speaking groups descend directly through generational continuity, especially in islands that were previously uninhabited. Serious research into

4988-546: The Austronesian expansion was largely peaceful. Rather than violent displacement, the settlers and the indigenous groups absorbed each other. It is believed that in some cases, like in the Toalean culture of Sulawesi (c. 8,000–1,500 BP), it is even more accurate to say that the densely populated indigenous hunter-gatherer groups absorbed the incoming Austronesian farmers, rather than the other way around. Mahdi (2016) further asserts that Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau-mata ("person")

5104-550: The Austronesian languages and its speakers has been ongoing since the 19th century. Modern scholarship on Austronesian dispersion models is generally credited to two influential papers in the late 20th century: The Colonisation of the Pacific: A Genetic Trail ( Hill & Serjeantson , eds., 1989) and The Austronesian Dispersal and the Origin of Languages ( Bellwood , 1991). The topic is particularly interesting to scientists for

5220-408: The Austronesian languages of this area grew distinct and became a separate branch of the Austronesian family. Migrants entered Micronesia from the east and the west. Migrants from the west came from the Philippines and Indonesia , and settled the Marianas around 3500 years ago, after which Palau was settled around 3000 years ago. Migrants from the east came from eastern Melanesia and settled

5336-556: The Banaban dialect of Gilbertese, which includes words from the old Banaban language. The Refaluwasch people are a Micronesian ethnic group who originated in Oceania, in the Caroline Islands , with a total population of over 8,500 people in northern Mariana . They are also known as Remathau in the Yap's outer islands. The Carolinian word means "People of the Deep Sea." It is thought that their ancestors may have originally immigrated from Asia , Indonesia , Melanesia and to Micronesia around 2,000 years ago. Their primary language

5452-439: The Malacca peninsula, as well as the Sandwich, the Society, and the Friendly Islanders, and also the Malambi of Madagascar down to the inhabitants of Easter Island, use the Malay idiom. By the 19th century, however, a classification of Austronesians as being a subset of the "Mongolian" race was favoured, as was polygenism . The Australo-Melanesian populations of Southeast Asia and Melanesia (whom Blumenbach initially classified as

5568-417: The Mariana Islands. The study also supports the Admiralty Islands as the source of the Central Micronesian peoples and languages. The Micronesian peoples can be divided into two cultural groups, the high-islanders and the low-islanders . The Palauans, Chamorros, Yapese, Chuukese, Pohnpeians, Kosraeans, Nauruans and Banabans belong to the high-islander group. The inhabitants of the low islands ( atolls ) are

5684-399: The Marshall Islands since 1986. Marshall Islands Public School System operates Utrik Elementary School. Northern Islands High School on Wotje serves the community. On 24 August 2016, Utirik Atoll recorded a temperature of 35.6 °C (96.1 °F), which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in the Marshall Islands. This Marshall Islands location article is

5800-659: The Marshallese and the Kiribati, whose culture is distinct from the high-islanders. Low-islanders had better navigation and canoe technology, as a means of survival. High-islanders had access to reliable and abundant resources and did not need to travel much outside of their islands. High islands also possessed larger populations. Archeological evidence has revealed that some of the Bonin Islands were prehistorically inhabited by members of an unknown Micronesian ethnicity. Raobeia Ken Sigrah claims that Banabans, native to Banaba , are ethnically distinct from other I-Kiribati. The Banabans were assimilated through forced migrations and

5916-440: The Micronesians. The largest group of languages spoken by the Micronesians are the Micronesian languages . They belong to the family of Oceanic languages , part of the Austronesian language group. They descended from the Proto-Oceanic language, which in turn descended via Proto-Malayo-Polynesian from Proto-Austronesian . The languages in the Micronesian family are Marshallese , Gilbertese , Kosraean , Nauruan , as well as

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6032-474: The Micronesians. There is no single belief system in the islands of Micronesia, as each island region has its own mythological beings . Traditional beliefs declined and changed with the arrival of Europeans, which occurred increasingly after the 1520s. In addition, the contact with European cultures led to changes in local myths and legends. Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples , sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples , are

6148-441: The Native Australians), and the "Pelagian or Oceanic Negroes" (the Melanesians and western Polynesians). Despite this, he acknowledges that "Malayo-Polynesians" and "Pelagian Negroes" had "remarkable characters in common", particularly in terms of language and craniometry . In linguistics, the Malayo-Polynesian language family also initially excluded Melanesia and Micronesia , due to the perceived physical differences between

6264-472: The Pacific Islands to successfully retain rice cultivation. Palau and Yap were settled by separate voyages by 1000 BCE. Another important migration branch was by the Lapita culture , which rapidly spread into the islands off the coast of northern New Guinea and into the Solomon Islands and other parts of coastal New Guinea and Island Melanesia by 1200 BCE. They reached the islands of Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga by around 900 to 800 BCE. This remained

6380-399: The Pacific Islands were also noted by other European explorers, including the Orientalist William Marsden and the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster . Johann Friedrich Blumenbach added Austronesians as the fifth category to his "varieties" of humans in the second edition of De Generis Humani Varietate Nativa (1781). He initially grouped them by geography and thus called Austronesians

6496-548: The Pacific Islands. Although Blumenbach's work was later used in scientific racism , Blumenbach was a monogenist and did not believe the human "varieties" were inherently inferior to each other. Rather, he believed that the Malay race was a combination of the "Ethiopian" and "Caucasian" varieties. Malay variety. Tawny-coloured; hair black, soft, curly, thick and plentiful; head moderately narrowed; forehead slightly swelling; nose full, rather wide, as it were diffuse, end thick; mouth large, upper jaw somewhat prominent with parts of

6612-411: The Philippines such as the Kankanaey and the Amis and Atayal of Taiwan . The first wave of First Remote Oceanian lineage settled the Mariana Islands around 2800 BCE. A second separate wave settled Palau around 2400 BCE. A third separate wave settled Central Micronesia around 2100 BCE. The peoples of Central Micronesia and Palau have a degree of Papuan ancestry, but this is absent from the peoples of

6728-407: The Physical History of Man (1836–1847), his work had become more racialized due to the influence of polygenism. He classified the peoples of Austronesia into two groups: the "Malayo-Polynesians" (roughly equivalent to the Austronesian peoples) and the "Kelænonesians" (roughly equivalent to the Australo-Melanesians ). He further subdivided the latter into the "Alfourous" (also "Haraforas" or "Alfoërs",

6844-413: The Three Wise Kings in Spanish ) due to the proximity of Epiphany . Utirik Atoll was claimed by the German Empire along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1885. After World War I, the island came under the South Seas Mandate of the Empire of Japan . Following the end of World War II, Utirik came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands . Utirik

6960-437: The United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia. The Chamorro are commonly believed to have come from Southeast Asia at around 2000 BC . They are most closely related to other Austronesian natives to the west in the Philippines and Taiwan , as well as the Carolines to the south. The Chamorro language is included in the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian family. Because Guam

7076-422: The Yangtze region came into regular contact with Proto-Sinitic speakers in the Shandong Peninsula , around the 4th to 3rd millennia BCE. This corresponded with the widespread introduction of rice cultivation to Proto-Sinitic speakers and conversely, millet cultivation to Pre-Austronesians. An Austronesian substratum in formerly Austronesian territories that have been Sinicized after the Iron Age Han expansion

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7192-483: The admixture is around 20 to 30% Papuan and 70 to 80% Austronesian. The Melanesians in Near Oceania are roughly around 20% Austronesian and 80% Papuan, while in the natives of the Lesser Sunda Islands , the admixture is around 50% Austronesian and 50% Papuan. Similarly, in the Philippines, the groups traditionally considered to be "Negrito" vary between 30 and 50% Austronesian. The high degree of assimilation among Austronesian, Negrito, and Papuan groups indicates that

7308-431: The archipelago of the Philippines, intermingling with the earlier Australo-Melanesian population who had inhabited the islands since about 23,000 years earlier. Over the next thousand years, Austronesian peoples migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines, and into the islands of the Celebes Sea and Borneo. From southwestern Borneo, Austronesians spread further west in a single migration event to both Sumatra and

7424-432: The chiefs, who received regular tribute and whose rule was absolute." Punishments administered by chiefs included death and banishment. Tribal wars included looting, destruction of houses and canoes and killing of prisoners. The Sonsorolese are Micronesian people, that inhabit the islands of Pulo Anna , Merir and Sonsorol in the island nation of Palau . A small proportion live in both the Northern Mariana Islands and

7540-583: The coastal regions between the Yangtze River delta and the Min River delta. Based on linguistic evidence, there have been proposals linking Austronesians with other linguistic families into linguistic macrofamilies that are relevant to the identity of the pre-Austronesian populations. The most notable are the connections of Austronesians to the neighboring Austroasiatic , Kra-Dai , and Sinitic peoples (as Austric , Austro-Tai , and Sino-Austronesian , respectively). These are still not widely accepted, as evidence of these relationships are still tenuous, and

7656-423: The coastal regions of southern Vietnam, becoming the ancestors of the speakers of the Malayic and Chamic branches of the Austronesian language family. Soon after reaching the Philippines, Austronesians colonized the Northern Mariana Islands by 1500 BCE or even earlier, becoming the first humans to reach Remote Oceania . The Chamorro migration was also unique in that it was the only Austronesian migration to

7772-496: The community. Authority was based on age, and Micronesians were taught to respect and hold their elders in high regard, which they would express by being silent in the presence of their elders. The elders would mediate and resolve conflicts. Most Micronesian peoples lacked musical instruments, and thus produced music only by song and chants. Important men would have songs composed about their abilities or deeds, by wives or partners. These songs could live on even after death and give

7888-409: The current scientific consensus, the Micronesians are considered, by linguistic, archaeological, and human genetic evidence, to be a subset of the sea-migrating Austronesian people , who include the Polynesians and the Melanesians . Austronesians were the first people to invent oceangoing sailing technologies (notably double-hulled sailing canoes , outrigger boats , lashed-lug boat building , and

8004-492: The early farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin that domesticated rice from around 13,500 to 8,200 BP . They display typical Austronesian technological hallmarks, including tooth removal , teeth blackening , jade carving, tattooing, stilt houses , advanced boatbuilding, aquaculture , wetland agriculture , and the domestication of dogs, pigs, and chickens. These include the Kuahuqiao , Hemudu , Majiabang , Songze , Liangzhu , and Dapenkeng cultures that occupied

8120-510: The end of the first millennium BCE, Austronesians were already sailing maritime trade routes linking the Han dynasty of China with the western Indian Ocean trade in India, the Roman Empire , and Africa. An Austronesian group, originally from the Makassar Strait region around Kalimantan and Sulawesi , eventually settled Madagascar , either directly from Southeast Asia or from preexisting mixed Austronesian- Bantu populations from East Africa . Estimates for when this occurred vary, from

8236-433: The exclusion of Melanesian and Micronesian languages. This was adopted by Ray, who defined the "Oceanic" language family as encompassing the languages of Southeast Asia and Madagascar, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. In 1899, the Austrian linguist and ethnologist Wilhelm Schmidt coined the term "Austronesian" (German: austronesisch , from Latin auster , "south wind"; and Greek νῆσος , "island") to refer to

8352-865: The face when seen in profile, sufficiently prominent and distinct from each other. This last variety includes the islanders of the Pacific Ocean, together with the inhabitants of the Marianas, the Philippine, the Molucca and the Sunda Islands, and of the Malayan peninsula. I wish to call it the Malay, because the majority of the men of this variety, especially those who inhabit the Indian islands close to

8468-687: The furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into Polynesia until around 700 CE, when there was another surge of island colonization. It reached the Cook Islands , Tahiti , and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaii by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and New Zealand by 1200 CE. For a few centuries, the Polynesian islands were connected by bidirectional long-distance sailing, with the exception of Rapa Nui, which had limited further contact due to its isolated geographical location. Island groups like

8584-516: The general consensus is that the archeological, cultural, genetic, and especially linguistic evidence all separately indicate varying degrees of shared ancestry among Austronesian-speaking peoples that justifies their treatment as a " phylogenetic unit". This has led to the use of the term "Austronesian" in academic literature to refer not only to the Austronesian languages but also the Austronesian-speaking peoples, their societies, and

8700-431: The geographic area of Austronesia . Some Austronesian-speaking groups are not direct descendants of Austronesians and acquired their languages through language shift , but this is believed to have happened only in a few instances, since the Austronesian expansion was too rapid for language shifts to have occurred fast enough. In parts of Island Melanesia , migrations and paternal admixture from Papuan groups after

8816-496: The global population), making it the fifth-largest language family by number of speakers. Major Austronesian languages include Malay (around 250–270 million in Indonesia alone in its own literary standard, named Indonesian ), Javanese , and Filipino ( Tagalog ). The family contains 1,257 languages, the second-largest number of any language family. The geographic region that encompasses native Austronesian-speaking populations

8932-463: The heavy impact of the discovery of phosphate in 1900 . After 1945, the British authorities relocated most of the population to Rabi Island , Fiji , with subsequent waves of emigration in 1977, and from 1981 to 1983. Some Banabans subsequently returned, following the end of mining in 1979; approximately 300 were living on the island in 2001. The population of Banaba in the 2010 census was 295. There

9048-477: The indigenous Aslians still speak Austroasiatic languages. However, some of the languages in the region show signs of underlying Austroasiatic substrates. According to Juha Janhunen and Ann Kumar, Austronesians may have also settled parts of southern Japan, especially on the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku , and influenced or created the Japanese hierarchical society. It is suggested that Japanese tribes like

9164-525: The indigenous people of Kosrae . They speak the Kosraean language . They number around 8,400 as of 2013. The Marshallese people ( Marshallese : kajoor ri-Ṃajeḷ , laḷ ri-Ṃajeḷ ) are the indigenous inhabitants of the Marshall Islands . They numbered 70,000 as of 2013. Marshallese society was organized into three social classes; the iroji was the chief or landowner that headed several clans,

9280-476: The inhabitants of these regions from Malayo-Polynesian speakers. However, there was growing evidence of their linguistic relationship to Malayo-Polynesian languages, notably from studies on the Melanesian languages by Georg von der Gabelentz , Robert Henry Codrington , and Sidney Herbert Ray . Codrington coined and used the term "Ocean" language family rather than "Malayo-Polynesian" in 1891, in opposition to

9396-719: The interior Papuans and Indigenous Australians . In modern literature, descendants of these groups, located in Island Southeast Asia west of Halmahera , are usually collectively referred to as " Negritos ", while descendants of these groups east of Halmahera (excluding Indigenous Australians ) are referred to as " Papuans ". They can also be divided into two broad groups based on Denisovan admixture . Philippine Negritos , Papuans, Melanesians , and Indigenous Australians display Denisovan admixture, while Malaysian and western Indonesian Negritos ( Orang Asli ) and Andamanese islanders do not. Mahdi (2017) also uses

9512-423: The island to either help or harm the living. A natural death would produce a benevolent ghost while an unnatural death would produce a malovent ghost. Other spirits were associated with places, natural objects, special crafts and activities. Various professions would make chants and offerings to their patron spirits, which they believed would control the outcome of their efforts. Micronesians believed that all sickness

9628-671: The islands in 1710. According to him, their clothing consisted of an apron, cloak and conical hat, and was similar to that described by Paul Klein in 1696 among the Carolinians. Tobian is a Micronesian language spoken in the Hatohobei (Tobi) and Koror states in Palau by about 150 people. In particular it is spoken on the island of Tobi (Torovei) in Hatohobei State, and also on Koro Island in Koror State. Tobian

9744-467: The islands of the Indo-Pacific , culminating in the settlement of New Zealand c.  1250 CE . During the initial part of the migrations, they encountered and assimilated (or were assimilated by) the Paleolithic populations that had migrated earlier into Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea . They reached as far as Easter Island to the east, Madagascar to the west, and New Zealand to

9860-583: The islands they settled, resulting in further genetic input. The most notable are the Austroasiatic -speaking peoples in western Island Southeast Asia ( peninsular Malaysia , Sumatra , Borneo , and Java ); the Bantu peoples in Madagascar and the Comoros ; as well as Japanese , Persian , Indian , Arab , and Han Chinese traders and migrants in more recent centuries. Island Southeast Asia

9976-499: The language family. Schmidt had the same motivations as Codrington: he proposed the term as a replacement to "Malayo-Polynesian", because he also opposed the implied exclusion of the languages of Melanesia and Micronesia in the latter name. It became the accepted name for the language family, with Oceanic and Malayo-Polynesian languages being retained as names for subgroups. The term "Austronesian", or more accurately "Austronesian-speaking peoples", came to refer to people who speak

10092-549: The languages of the Austronesian language family. Some authors, however, object to the use of the term to refer to people, as they question whether there really is any biological or cultural shared ancestry between all Austronesian-speaking groups. This is especially true for authors who reject the prevailing "Out of Taiwan" hypothesis and instead offer scenarios where the Austronesian languages spread among preexisting static populations through borrowing or convergence, with little or no population movements. Despite these objections,

10208-767: The last Malayo-Pacific human migration ( c.  1200 ). It was probably seafaring or shipwrecked Polynesians or Melanesians that established themselves in Nauru because there was not already an indigenous people present, whereas the Micronesians were already crossed with the Melanesians in this area. The Palauans or Belauans ( Palauan : Belau , ngukokl a Belau ) — are the indigenous people of Palau . They numbered around 26,600 as of 2013. Palauans are not noted for being great long-distance voyagers and navigators when compared to other Micronesian peoples. The taro

10324-470: The later confusion of his racial category with the Malay ethnic group . The other varieties Blumenbach identified were the "Caucasians" (white), "Mongolians" (yellow), "Ethiopians" (black), and "Americans" (red). Blumenbach's definition of the "Malay" race is largely identical to the modern distribution of the Austronesian peoples, including not only Islander Southeast Asians but also the people of Madagascar and

10440-479: The local population of Chamorro natives to just 3,700. They began to immigrate mostly sailing from small canoes from other islands, which a typhoon previously devastated. The Refaluwasch have a much darker complexion than the native Chamorros . The Chamorro people are the indigenous peoples of the Mariana Islands , which are politically divided between the United States territory of Guam and

10556-649: The mainland until 1500 BCE. The identity of the Neolithic pre-Austronesian cultures in China is contentious. Tracing Austronesian prehistory in Fujian and Taiwan has been difficult due to the southward expansion of the Han dynasty (2nd century BCE) and the recent Qing dynasty annexation of Taiwan (1683 CE). Today, the only Austronesian language in southern China is Tsat , spoken in Hainan . The politicization of archaeology

10672-607: The men a heroic status. The traditional religions of Micronesia were extremely heterogeneous. However, very little is known about most of them, as the islands were evangelized very early (from the 16th to 18th centuries) so that the indigenous religions could only survive on a few islands. However, some important manifestations of religious practice and thought can be identified for the entire Micronesian cultural space: The traditional Micronesian religions emphasized ancestor worship and embraced spirits and ghosts. After death, one's spirit would either pass on to an afterworld or stay on

10788-462: The men were expected to defend and protect their family. They were very protective of their clan, lineage identity and property. Backing down from a fight is not seen as manly. The Kiribati people, also known as I-Kiribati , Tungaru , or Gilbertese , are the indigenous people of Kiribati . They speak the Gilbertese language . They numbered 103,000 as of 2008. The Kosraeans or Kusaieans are

10904-623: The methods used are highly contentious. In support of both the Austric and Austro-Tai hypothesis, Robert Blust connects the lower Yangtze Neolithic Austro-Tai entity with the rice-cultivating Austroasiatic cultures, assuming the center of East Asian rice domestication, and putative Austric homeland, to be located in the Yunnan/Burma border area, instead of the Yangtze River basin, as is currently accepted. Under that view, there

11020-434: The migrations, including rice , bananas, coconuts, breadfruit , Dioscorea yams , taro , paper mulberry , chickens, pigs, and dogs . The linguistic connections between Madagascar , Polynesia , and Southeast Asia , particularly the similarities between Malagasy , Malay , and Polynesian numerals , were recognized early in the colonial era by European authors. The first formal publication on these relationships

11136-481: The navigators who voyaged between the islands of Micronesia in the open Pacific Ocean . These voyagers used wayfinding techniques such as the navigation by the stars, and observations of birds, ocean swells, and wind patterns, and relied on a large body of knowledge from oral tradition. Weriyeng is one of the last two schools of traditional navigation found in the central Caroline Islands in Micronesia,

11252-451: The nearby tonal languages of Mainland Southeast Asia and Hainan. Although the populations of the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and neighboring islands are Austronesian-speaking, they have significantly high admixture from Mainland Southeast Asian populations. These areas were already populated (most probably by speakers of Austroasiatic languages) before they were reached by the Austronesian expansion, roughly 3,000 years ago. Currently, only

11368-434: The open ocean; this technology allowed them to colonize a large part of the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to the 16th-century colonial era , the Austronesian language family was the most widespread in the world, spanning half the planet from Easter Island in the eastern Pacific Ocean to Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean . Languages of the Austronesian family are today spoken by about 386 million people (4.9% of

11484-415: The other being Fanur . Micronesian culture is very diverse across island atolls and influenced by the surrounding cultures. In the east one finds a more Polynesian culture with social classes (nobility, commoners and slaves) and in the west a more Melanesian-Indonesian influenced culture led by tribal chiefs without nobility, with the Marianas being an exception. Nonetheless, the Micronesians form

11600-435: The past in areas that are not inhabited by Austronesian speakers today. These range from likely hypotheses to very controversial claims with minimal evidence. In 2009, Roger Blench compiled an expanded map of Austronesia that encompassed these claims based on a variety of evidence, such as historical accounts, loanwords, introduced plants and animals , genetics, archeological sites, and material culture. They include areas like

11716-405: The remarkably unique characteristics of the Austronesian speakers: their extent, diversity, and rapid dispersal. Regardless, certain disagreements still exist among researchers with regards to chronology, origin, dispersal, adaptations to the island environments, interactions with preexisting populations in areas they settled, and cultural developments over time. The mainstream accepted hypothesis

11832-501: The result of various Neolithic migration waves from the mainland and back-migration from the Philippines. These incoming migrants almost certainly spoke languages related to Austronesian or pre-Austronesian, although their phonology and grammar would have been quite diverse. Blench considers the Austronesians in Taiwan to have been a melting pot of immigrants from various parts of the coast of East China that had been migrating to Taiwan by 4000 BP. These immigrants included people from

11948-410: The single-migration model into Taiwan by pre-Austronesians to be inconsistent with both the archaeological and linguistic (lexical) evidence. The Austronesian expansion (also called the "Out of Taiwan" model) is a large-scale migration of Austronesians from Taiwan, occurring around 3000 to 1500 BCE. Population growth primarily fueled this migration. These first settlers settled in northern Luzon , in

12064-433: The social organization, family structures, the economy, shared food and common work. The Micronesian family is formed from four equally important components, the household, the nuclear family, the extended family, and a lineage. The family and the community would cooperate with fishing, farming, raising children and passing knowledge to the next generations. Individuals and families would conform their behavior to cooperate with

12180-456: The south. At the furthest extent, they might have also reached the Americas . Aside from language, Austronesian peoples widely share cultural characteristics, including such traditions and traditional technologies as tattooing , stilt houses , jade carving, wetland agriculture , and various rock art motifs. They also share domesticated plants and animals that were carried along with

12296-672: The term "First Sundaland People" in place of "Negrito", as a more accurate name for the original population of Southeast Asia. These populations are genetically distinct from later Austronesians, but through fairly extensive population admixture, most modern Austronesians have varying levels of ancestry from these groups. The same is true for some populations historically considered "non-Austronesians", due to physical differences—like Philippine Negritos, Orang Asli, and Austronesian-speaking Melanesians, all of whom have Austronesian admixture. In Polynesians in Remote Oceania , for example,

12412-479: The term "Qata" (from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qata) to distinguish the indigenous populations of Southeast Asia, versus "Tau" (from Proto-Austronesian *Cau) for the later settlers from Taiwan and mainland China. Both are based on proto-forms for the word "person" in Malayo-Polynesian languages that referred to darker-skinned and lighter-skinned groups, respectively. Jinam et al. (2017) also proposed

12528-583: The two groups, like facial tattooing, tooth removal or ablation , teeth blackening, snake (or dragon) cults, and the multiple-tongued jaw harps shared by the indigenous Taiwanese and Kra-Dai-speakers. However, archaeological evidence for this is still sparse. This is believed to be similar to what happened to the Cham people , who were originally Austronesian settlers (likely from Borneo ) to southern Vietnam around 2100–1900 BP and had languages similar to Malay . Their languages underwent several restructuring events to syntax and phonology due to contact with

12644-566: Was settled by modern humans in the Paleolithic following coastal migration routes , presumably starting before 70,000 BP from Africa , long before the development of Austronesian cultures. These populations are typified by having dark skin, curly hair, and short statures, leading Europeans to believe, in the 19th century, that they were related to African Pygmies . However, despite these physical similarities, genetic studies have shown that they are more closely related to other Eurasian populations than to Africans. The lowered sea levels of

12760-446: Was an east–west genetic alignment, resulting from a rice-based population expansion, in the southern part of East Asia: Austroasiatic-Kra-Dai-Austronesian, with unrelated Sino-Tibetan occupying a more northerly tier. Depending on the author, other hypotheses have also included other language families like Hmong-Mien and even Japanese-Ryukyuan into the larger Austric hypothesis. While the Austric hypothesis remains contentious, there

12876-543: Was brought by an Oceanic-speaking source in Melanesia, perhaps the Admiralty Islands . A 2022 genetic study has shown that the various peoples inhabiting Micronesia have diverse genetic origins and originate from distinct streams of migration. Micronesia was settled by three separate streams of First Remote Oceanian lineage, which corresponds to East Asian ancestry and clusters closely to modern day peoples of

12992-411: Was caused by spirits. Shamans, mediums, diviners and sorcerers could be consulted to deal with the spirit world. Taboos would often be placed on food and sexual activities before a person would engage in an important pursuit. Violating this taboo would cause a spirit to send sickness or death to the offender or even the entire community. Micronesian mythology comprises the traditional belief systems of

13108-425: Was colonized by Spain for over 300 years, many words derive from the Spanish language . The traditional Chamorro number system was replaced by Spanish numbers. The Chuukese people are an ethnic group of Chuuk State . They constitute 48% of the population of the Federated States of Micronesia . Their language is Chuukese . The home atoll of Chuuk is also known by the former name "Truk". In Chuukese culture,

13224-573: Was in 1708 by Dutch Orientalist Adriaan Reland , who recognized a "common language" from Madagascar to western Polynesia, although Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman observed linguistic links between Madagascar and the Malay Archipelago a century earlier, in 1603. German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster , who traveled with James Cook on his second voyage , also recognized the similarities of Polynesian languages to those of Island Southeast Asia. In his book Observations Made during

13340-399: Was one of four atolls affected by nuclear fallout from Castle Bravo , the largest of the many nuclear weapon tests conducted at Bikini Atoll immediately following World War II. Research is still being done to ascertain the radiation levels, though many scientists agree that there is no harmful effect from the radiation still present. The island has been part of the independent Republic of

13456-594: Was previously uninhabited by humans or hominins and can only be reached from either Mindanao or the Sangihe Islands by crossing an expanse of water at least 100 km (62 mi) wide, even during the low sea levels of the Pleistocene. Other evidence of early maritime transport are the appearance of obsidian tools with the same source on neighboring islands. These include the Philippine obsidian network ( Mindoro and Palawan , ca.33,000-28,000 BP), and

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