Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) is a region extending from the western side of the East Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. The term was first used by Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1832 to denote an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands distinct from Polynesia and Micronesia.
Today d'Urville's racial classification is known to be inaccurate because it obscures Melanesia's very great cultural, linguistic, and genetic diversity and combines two quite distinct groups, the Austronesians (who have a much wider distribution than just Melanesia) and the Papuans (who themselves comprise a number of separate groups). A further complication is that the term Melanesian is sometimes used to refer solely to the Austronesian peoples of that region, especially when contrasting them with the Polynesians and Micronesians (both of which groups are also Austronesian).
In contrast, the geopolitical conception of Melanesia is widely used. For example, the Melanesian Spearhead Group Preferential Trade Agreement is a regional trade treaty governing the states of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. People of Melanesian countries often talk about the Melanesian way, which people of the region see as a distinctively Melanesian set of cultural values and behaviour. 'Melanesia' is also current as a geographic term, to refer to the area when national, ethnic and linguistic distinctions are not relevant.[1]
People
The original inhabitants of Melanesia are likely to have been the ancestors of the present-day Papuan language speaking people. These people are thought to have occupied New Guinea tens of millennia ago, and reached islands of Melanesia at least 35,000 years ago (according to radiocarbon dating). They appear to have occupied Melanesia as far east as the main islands in the Solomon Islands (i.e. including San Cristobal) and perhaps even to the smaller islands further to the east.[2]
It is in Melanesia (particularly along the north coast of New Guinea and in the islands north and east of New Guinea) that the Austronesian people came into contact with these pre-existing populations of Papuan speaking peoples, probably around four thousand years ago. It seems there was a long period of interaction which resulted in many complex changes in genetics, languages and culture.[3] It is likely that it is from this area that a very small group of people (who spoke an Austronesian language) departed to the east to become the founders of the Polynesian people.[4]
The nations of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia (under French sovereignty) use this term to describe themselves because it reflects their shared colonial history and common regional situation. These areas form the core of the modern Melanesian region. However, adjacent islands in other countries are sometimes seen as peripherally Melanesian (see below).
Location
The following islands and groups of islands are traditionally considered part of Melanesia:
- Bismarck Archipelago
- Fiji
- New Caledonia
- New Guinea (Papua New Guinea mainland and the Indonesian province of Papua)
- Maluku Islands
- Solomon Islands
- Torres Strait Islands
- Vanuatu
- Palau Islands
Islands whose long-established inhabitants are of mixed ancestry which do not necessarily self-identify as Melanesian:
Some of the islands to the west of New Guinea such as Halmahera, Alor and Pantar can also be considered to be part of Melanesia, although people in this area do not make use of the term.
References
- ^ Diamond, Jared and Ernst Mayr (2001). The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology, and Biogeography. N.Y.: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514170-9.
- ^ Dunn, Michael, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, Robert A. Foley, Stephen C. Levinson (2005). "Structural Phylogenetics and the Reconstruction of Ancient Language History". Science. 309: 2072–2075. doi:10.1126/science.1114615.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Spriggs, Matthew (1997). The Island Melanesians. Blackwell. ISBN 0631167277.
- ^ Kayser, Manfred, Silke Brauer, Gunter Weiss, Peter A. Underhill, Lutz Rower, Wulf Schiefenhövel and Mark Stoneking (2000). "The Melanesian Origin of Polynesian Y chromosomes". Current Biology. 10: 1237–1246. doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00029-X.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
See also
External links
- Map South Pacific
- South Pacific Organizer
- Polynesian origins: Insights from the Y chromosome
- Independent Histories of Human Y Chromosomes from Melanesia and Australia
- A site about West Melanesia
- Bird checklists for Melanesian islands
- New Guinea: Crossing Boundaries and History - a general history of New Guinea
- Anglican historical texts related to Melanesia