though geologists are not sure this happened. Krakatoa seems
more likely to have erupted in 535 c.e., disrupting the global
climate for several years.
To the east of the Indonesian archipelago lies New Guin-
ea, a giant island. New Guinea is very mountainous. Although
it has a tropical climate, the hilltops can be cool. Th e terrain
is extremely rugged, and travel through the interior is dif-
fi cult. As a result, people living there in ancient times tended
to be isolated from one another, to the point that islanders
developed numerous diff erent languages that were all mutu-
ally unintelligible.
OCEANIA
Th e Pacifi c Ocean is home to numerous islands. Th ese islands
were gradually populated during ancient times, as people
set out from their homes in boats. Over the years humans
traveled by boat to the far-fl ung islands of the Pacifi c. Th ey
started with the closest islands and moved from there farther
afi eld. Samoa was settled around 1200 b.c.e.; Hawaii and Eas-
ter Island were much later, around 500 c.e.
Th e island group called Micronesia lies to the east of
the Philippines. Th e Marshall Islands lie east of Micronesia.
East of Papua New Guinea are the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu,
Nauru, and New Caledonia. Farther east are Fiji, Samoa,
Tonga, Kiribati, the Cook Islands, Tahiti and French Polynesia,
the Marquesas Islands, and Pitcairn Island. Hawaii lies far to
the north of these, and Easter Island far to the east.
Pacifi c islanders were expert seafarers. Boats were the
only way to travel among the islands, and people regularly
set out in outrigger canoes for voyages that lasted several
days. Th ey navigated by the stars and the sun. Th ey also used
boats at home for fi shing. People could not inhabit new is-
lands without food; when they went on voyages of settlement,
they brought with them their agricultural and hunting hab-
its, adapting them to local conditions. Th is practice did not
always result in balanced or adequate diets. Many groups of
islanders were extremely isolated from outside infl uences and
hence developed their own unique cultures.AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Australia is a continent south of Indonesia and New Guin-
ea. It is separated from Asia by the Arafura Sea, the Timor
Sea, and the Torres Strait. The Indian Ocean lies to its
west, the Southern Ocean to its south, and the Tasman Sea,
Coral Sea, and Pacific Ocean to its east. The Great Barrier
Reef, a giant coral reef, runs over 1,200 miles along the
northeast coast.
Th e continent is mostly fl at. Th e majority of the main-
land consists of several plateaus of limestone with some high-
lands in the coasts and in the very center. Th e Nullarbor Plain
on the southern coast is one of the fl attest places on earth.
Th e Simpson Desert in the eastern central area has numerous
salt basins. A chain of mountains called the Great Dividing
Range runs along the eastern coastline. Th e Australian AlpsThe islands of the South Pacifi c are divided into three groups: Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. The native
populations of these island groups look very different from one another. Melanesians have dark skin and tightly
curled dark hair and resemble Australian aborigines. Micronesians have dark skin, somewhat lighter than that of
Melanesians, and straight or wavy dark hair. Polynesians are taller than Micronesians and Melanesians; they have
light skin, straight or wavy dark hair, and Asian facial features. How these ethnic populations arose where they did is
very much a function of geography.
Melanesia (“black islands”) lies south of Micronesia. It includes Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solo-
mon Islands. Melanesia was fi rst populated around 38,000 B.C.E. by dark-skinned people who traveled there from
Southeast Asia. These people probably descended from humans living in Java (in Indonesia) at least a million years
ago, giving them time to evolve features typical of people living in the tropics, such as dark skins. Micronesia (“small
islands” in Greek) lies in the western Pacifi c northeast of Australia. This region was also colonized by dark-skinned
people from Asia around 28,000 B.C.E.
Polynesia (“many islands”) is a much bigger region to the east of Micronesia and Melanesia. It was populated
much later, between 1600 B.C.E. and 500 C.E. Polynesia’s population came from China. (Historians refer to these peo-
ple by their language group, Austronesian). The Austronesian people had a fertile homeland and mastered agriculture
early, allowing them to spread out from their homeland. They moved into Taiwan and Southeast Asia and displaced
the native populations there; they then built boats and started sailing east.
The peoples of Melanesia were fi rmly ensconced in their homes, with solid agricultural systems, and they man-
aged to keep their homelands despite the invasion of technologically advanced Austronesian invaders. New Guinea’s
forbidding geography helped isolate its natives and preserve their ethnic features. Micronesians seem to have mixed
more with the Chinese. Polynesia, however, had no native inhabitants, so the Austronesian colonists furnished all
ethnic stock. For this reason, Polynesians look East Asian.MICRONESIA, MELANESIA, AND POLYNESIA
climate and geography: Asia and the Pacific 251