Editing Micronesia (section)

===Prehistory{{anchor|Pre-history}}===
{{Further|Austronesian peoples}}

[[File:Chronological dispersal of Austronesian people across the Pacific.svg|thumb|upright=2|Chronological dispersal of [[Austronesian peoples]] across the [[Indo-Pacific]]<ref name="Chambers2013">{{cite journal |last1=Chambers |first1=Geoff |journal =eLS | title = Genetics and the Origins of the Polynesians |publisher= John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|date=15 January 2013 |doi=10.1002/9780470015902.a0020808.pub2|isbn=978-0470016176 }}</ref>]]

The [[Northern Mariana Islands]] were the first islands in [[Oceania]] colonized by the [[Austronesian peoples]]. They were settled by the voyagers who sailed eastwards from the [[Philippines]] in approximately 1500 BCE. These populations gradually moved southwards until they reached the [[Bismarck Archipelago]] and the [[Solomon Islands]] by 1300 BCE and reconnected with the [[Lapita culture]] of the southeast migration branch of Austronesians moving through coastal [[New Guinea]] and [[Island Melanesia]]. By 1200 BCE, they again began crossing open seas beyond inter-island visibility, reaching [[Vanuatu]], [[Fiji]], and [[New Caledonia]]; before continuing eastwards to become the ancestors of the [[Polynesian people]].<ref name="Chambers2013"/><ref name="wilson2018">{{cite book|first1=Meredith|last1=Wilson|first2=Chris|last2=Ballard|editor1-first=Bruno |editor1-last=David|editor2-first= Ian J.|editor2-last= McNiven|title =The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art|chapter=Rock Art of the Pacific: Context and Intertextuality|publisher =Oxford University Press|year =2018|pages=221–252|isbn = 9780190844950|chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=tXFyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1}}</ref><ref name="Bellwood2011">{{cite journal |last1=Bellwood |first1=Peter |title=The Checkered Prehistory of Rice Movement Southwards as a Domesticated Cereal—from the Yangzi to the Equator |journal=Rice |date=9 December 2011 |volume=4 |issue=3–4 |pages=93–103 |doi=10.1007/s12284-011-9068-9 |s2cid=44675525 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/81529950.pdf|doi-access=free |bibcode=2011Rice....4...93B }}</ref>

Further migrations by other Austronesians also followed, likely from [[Sulawesi]], settling [[Palau]] and [[Yap]] by around 1000 BCE. The details of this colonization, however, are not very well known.<ref name="Chambers2013"/><ref name="wilson2018"/>{{sfn|Morgan|1988|p=30}} In 200 BCE, a loosely connected group of Lapita colonists from [[Island Melanesia]] also migrated back northwards, settling the islands of eastern Micronesia almost simultaneously. This region became the center of another wave of migrations radiating outwards, reconnecting them with other settled islands in western Micronesia.<ref name="Chambers2013"/><ref name="wilson2018"/>

Around 800 CE, a second wave of migrants from Southeast Asia arrived in the Marianas, beginning what is now known as the [[Latte period]]. These new settlers built large structures with distinctive capped stone pillars known as ''haligi''. They also reintroduced [[rice]] (which did not survive earlier voyages), making the Northern Marianas the only islands in [[Oceania]] where rice was grown prior to European contact. However, it was considered a high-status crop and only used in rituals. It did not become a staple until after [[Spanish East Indies|Spanish colonization]].<ref name="Bellwood2011"/><ref name="Carson2012">{{cite journal |last1=Carson |first1=Mike T. |title=An overview of ''latte'' period archaeology |journal=Micronesica |date=2012 |volume=42 |issue=1/2 |pages=1–79 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/1_carson1-79sm.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Peterson2012">{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=John A. |title=Latte villages in Guam and the Marianas: Monumentality or monumenterity? |journal=Micronesica |date=2012 |volume=42 |issue=1/2 |pages=183–08 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/5_smpeterson_pp183-208.pdf}}</ref>

Construction of [[Nan Madol]], a [[megalith]]ic complex made from [[Columnar basalt|basalt lava logs]] in Pohnpei, began in around 1180 CE. This was followed by the construction of the [[Leluh archaeological site|Leluh complex]] in [[Kosrae]] in around 1200.<ref name="wilson2018"/><ref name="Richards2015">{{cite journal |last1=Richards |first1=Zoe T. |last2=Shen |first2=Chuan-Chou |last3=Hobbs |first3=Jean-Paul A. |last4=Wu |first4=Chung-Che |last5=Jiang |first5=Xiuyang |last6=Beardsley |first6=Felicia |title=New precise dates for the ancient and sacred coral pyramidal tombs of Leluh (Kosrae, Micronesia) |journal=Science Advances |date=March 2015 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=e1400060 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.1400060|pmid=26601144 |pmc=4643814 |bibcode=2015SciA....1E0060R }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rainbird |first1=Paul |last2=Wilson |first2=Meredith |title=Crossing the line: the enveloped cross in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia |journal=Antiquity |date=2 January 2015 |volume=76 |issue=293 |pages=635–636 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00091018|s2cid=161654405 }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Map FM-Nan Madol.PNG|Central Nan Madol (map)
File:Nan Madol 5.jpg|[[Nan Madol]]
File:Lelu Ruins, Kosrae, Micronesia.jpg|[[Leluh archaeological site|Leluh]]
File:Latte stones in Hagatna.jpg|[[Latte stone]]s
File:Yap Stone Money.jpg|[[Rai stone]]
</gallery>