The Study of Pacific History

SUMMARY ON THE STUDY OF PACIFIC HISTORY

Many theories have been put forward to explain the ways in which the Pacific came to be settled. Many parts of the puzzle of where people lived and when they lived. The characteristics of people can tell us what racial types have been mixed in those people; language, ways of living, of making boats, of warfare, and many other features of daily living can show us how people moved from place to place , taking their crafts and skills with them. By tracing such things we can build up a picture of how the pacific came to settle. But there are many pieces of the puzzle missing, and it is doubtful if we shall ever see the full picture. Until we do, we must talk in general term.

The first settlement period date back to more than 50,000 to 60,000 years back when voyagers moved into the many islands of the south East Asia and the first aboriginal people moved into the continent of the Australia and New Guinea. Because the sea level was low, Australia and New Guinea was joined together as one continent known as Sahul. The second phase of settlement began 30,000 to 40,000 years ago where people continued to move from South East Asia, Australia, New Guinea islands and nearby Solomon islands. People settled and became mixed with later arrivals and followed a particular lifestyle. They became known as the Melanesians. The earliest European visitors used this term because it made it easy to differentiate the people with lighter colored skin and straight hair found in the eastern pacific (whom Europeans called Polynesians). The word Polynesia mean s (many islands), Melanesia means (dark islands) and Micronesia means (small islands).