Pacific Migration Chapter

Pacific Migration

There are two ancient languages of the Pacific. These languages reflect the two ancient groups of people who originally moved into the Pacific and populated the islands. The oldest language of the Pacific is Australoid and it is found in Melanesia. These are the large continental islands to the south of Guam. The people who spoke this language arrived in the Pacific some 40,000 B.P. (40,000 years ago) B.P. Stands for Before the Present and is read “years ago”.

Australoid speakers were dark skinned hunter-gatherers who traveled mainly through land. If they crossed any ocean water, they did so on rafts, and when the sea levels were lower that they are today – so they could see the other islands they traveled to. These people ate animals and fruit from the trees, so they tended to live in the interior of islands where they settled, probably along the banks of rivers.

Australoid speakers came mainly from the region of Southeast Asia or Indonesia. If you looked at a map today, you can see that the Indonesian islands are large, and close together. It would have been fairly easy for a nomadic people like the Australoid speakers to find new lands. Nomadic refers to their lifestyle of moving from one place to another in order to find more food. Australoid speakers, it is believed, were looking for more food and followed animals from one island to another. The Melanesian region stretches from Papua Niu Gini to Fiji in the east. It is believed that Australoid speakers went as far west as the Solomon islands. The original Australoid language has fragmented or broken apart, forming new dialects of the original language. There are now many branches of the Australoid language found in Melanesia.

The second ancient language found in the Pacific is Austronesian. Austronesian speakers began arriving in Melanesia some 5-6,000 B.P. Austronesians were more advanced than the Australoid speakers. Austronesians were lighter brown skinned people and they knew horticulture or the science of farming. They were also fishermen and had a canoe and navigation technology. This canoe and navigation technology is the reason why they were able to populate the entire Pacific region. They built water crafts that could withstand the rigors of the open ocean and they had a knowledge of the stars and waves that would take them to other islands and back. The first wave of Austronesian speakers moved as far as the Solomon islands in the Melanesian region. During this time, the people settled near the shore because they were fishermen-farmers. Later, about 3,500-3,000 BP, from central and eastern Melanesia, groups of Austronesians moved into central and eastern Micronesia. They back migrated into Nauru, Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, the Marshall islands, and the Gilbert islands.

At the same time, Austronesian also began moving into Fiji, Samoa and Tonga in the Polynesian area. These latter three island groups began a trade that would last at least 500 years. There was a consistent movement of people and goods from one island to another. They shared resources such as pigs, dogs, and chickens. They traded jewelry, mats, and language. It is this area of the Pacific that is known as the Cradle of Polynesia, because this is where the Polynesian culture began to be developed. It was also in this area that the double hulled canoe was developed. A double hulled canoe is large enough to carry at least 50 or more passengers, many supplies and animals as well. It was this canoe that enabled the Austronesian speakers to continue their trade and to travel long distances without stopping at other islands along the way. About 2,500 BP to 2,000 BP, the Austronesian speakers began to move across the rest of the Pacific and into Polynesia. They moved to Tahiti in central Polynesia, to New Zealand in the south, to Easter Island in the far east, and finally, to the Hawaiian islands in the north. It is estimated that Hawaii was settled some 1200 BP.

The Austronesian speakers of Melanesia had some cultural traits in common. They were all fishermen-farmers, they had a canoe and navigation technology, and they all made a type of decorated pottery called Lapita. Another cultural trait they all followed was the tattoo, which might have been a later introduction to the area.

Austronesians used wood, shell, or stone tools. They wore jewelry made of exotic shells that usually had a value in prestige or honor for the person who wore them. They lived in clan groups which made their subsistence lifestyle easier since the work could be divided among them. In a subsistence lifestyle, the group made everything for themselves. They farmed, made their own tools, houses and clothing. They fished and made the tools they needed for fishing as well. Many of the Austronesian tools are similar in use and design, although each island culture, once settled, began creating their own style of tools as well. Shell food scrapers were seashells with sharpened edges that acted like a peeler, to scape the outside skin of fruit like the breadfruit. Coconut graters were flat, rounded shells used to shred the coconut meat. The main carving tool of the Pacific is called the adze. The adze had a stone or shell carving blade with a wooden handle. It was used to carve the wood for canoe making.

Some of the common foods of the Austronesian speakers were the same foods that the people put on their first voyaging canoes for survival. The coconut, breadfruit and taro are the three most important food crops of the Pacific. Although the preparation of these foods varied, all of the Austronesians them. The breadfruit and coconut tree had other uses as well, so we know that the Austronesian speakers had great skill in planting and surviving on islands with little resources. Some animals that were included in those first voyages were pigs dogs and chickens. In the beginning, all the animals were brought as a food source, but by the time the people settled Hawaii, the dog was no longer a food source.

There are three island groups of Micronesia that did not fall into this general pattern of movement throughout the Pacific. The main movement brought Austronesian speakers first through Melanesia and then moving from one island to another to populate all the Pacific island. The Micronesian island groups of Palau, Yap, and the Mariana Islands did not fall into this general pattern of movement. The three volcanic island groups most likely had a direct migration from Southeast Asia or Indonesia between 3,500-4000 BP. We know that some of the customs that are followed by other people in Micronesia are not followed in the high western islands of which Guam is one. First, the people of the west did not eat dog, so it is likely that the animal was not on the first canoe. Second, in the Mariana islands, they did not practice body tattoo. There were some evidence that women carved a design on their teeth, but this was not everyone, and more rare than usual for the Mariana islands. Third, the people of Western Micronesia had pottery, but it was made locally and not Lapita. Fourth and finally, each of the island groups of western Micronesia speak an older form of Austronesian, so they have separate branches of the language tree while the central and eastern Micronesian languages share the same branch of the Austronesian language tree.

Assignment

Define difficult words from the text. Answer the following questions in your notebook.

Where did the Pacific people come from?
When did they arrive?
Why did they settle on the islands?
What languages did they speak? What ancient language did the first ancient settlers to the Mariana islands speak?
What tools, plants, and animals did they bring?
How were they able to survive the long ocean voyages?

What skills did the Austronesian speakers have that enabled them to travel to distant islands and survive on those islands?

Describe the role of jewelry in ancient island societies.