Editing History of Oceania (section)

=== Micronesia ===
{{Further|Micronesians|Nan Madol|Saudeleur dynasty}}
{{See also|History of the Federated States of Micronesia}}

Micronesia began to be settled several millennia ago, although there are competing theories about the origin and arrival of the first settlers.{{sfn|Kirch|2001|p=167}} There are numerous difficulties with conducting archaeological excavations in the islands, due to their size, settlement patterns and storm damage. As a result, much evidence is based on linguistic analysis.{{sfn|Lal|Fortune|2000|p=62}} The earliest archaeological traces of civilization have been found on the island of [[Saipan]], dated to 1500 BCE or slightly before.{{sfn|Kirch|2001|p=170}}

The ancestors of the [[Micronesians]] settled there over 4,000 years ago. A decentralized chieftain-based system eventually evolved into a more centralized economic and religious culture centered on [[Yap]] and [[Pohnpei]].<ref name=USDOS>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1839.htm |publisher=United States Department of State |title=Background Note: Micronesia |access-date=6 January 2012}}</ref> The prehistory of many Micronesian islands such as Yap are not known very well.<ref name="books.google">{{cite book|last=Morgan|first=William N.|title=Prehistoric Architecture in Micronesia|page=30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3Z-aH7govUC&q=%22micronesia%22|isbn=978-0-292-78621-9|year=1988|publisher=University of Texas Press }}</ref>

[[File:Map FM-Nan Madol.PNG|thumb|right|Central [[Nan Madol]]]]
[[File:Nan Madol 5.jpg|thumb|left|[[Nan Madol]], capital of the Saudeleur Dynasty]]

On [[Pohnpei]], pre-colonial history is divided into three eras: ''Mwehin Kawa'' or ''Mwehin Aramas'' (Period of Building, or Period of Peopling, before c. 1100); ''Mwehin Sau Deleur'' (Period of the [[Saudeleur|Lord of Deleur]], c. 1100<ref name=Flood>{{cite book|title=Micronesian Legends |first1=Bo |last1=Flood |first2=Beret E. |last2=Strong |first3=William |last3=Flood |publisher=Bess Press |year=2002 |isbn=1-57306-129-8 |pages=145–47, 160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVVQ46epBqwC |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref> to c. 1628);{{#tag:ref|The Saudeleur era lasted around 500 years.<ref name=Hanlon /> Legend generally dates their downfall to the 1500s,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Lelu Stone Ruins (Kosrae, Micronesia): 1978–1981 Historical and Archaeological Research |issue=10 |series=Asian and Pacific Archaeology |first=Ross H |last=Cordy |publisher=Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa |year=1993 |isbn=0-8248-1134-8 |pages=14, 254, 258 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQMNAQAAMAAJ |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> however archaeologists date Saudeleur ruins to c. 1628.<ref name=Morgan>{{cite book|title=Prehistoric Architecture in Micronesia |first=William N |last=Morgan |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-292-76506-1 |pages=60, 63, 76, 85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3Z-aH7govUC |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref><ref name=PlaceNames /><ref name=UG>{{cite book|title=Micronesica |publisher=University of Guam |year=1990 |pages=92, 203, 277 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LgAcAAAAMAAJ |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> |group=note}} and ''Mwehin [[tribal chief|Nahnmwarki]]'' (Period of the Nahnmwarki, c. 1628 to c. 1885).<ref name=Hanlon>{{cite book|title=Upon a Stone Altar: A History of the Island of Pohnpei to 1890 |volume=5 |series=Pacific Islands Monograph |first=David L |last=Hanlon |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-8248-1124-0 |pages=13–25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OzgF5vZByVoC |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=PlaceNames>{{cite book|title=Place Names of Pohnpei Island: Including And (Ant) and Pakin Atolls |first1=Tom |last1=Panholzer |first2=Mauricio |last2=Rufino |publisher=Bess Press |year=2003 |isbn=1-57306-166-2 |pages=xiii, xii, 101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2EWUggiuQIC |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> Pohnpeian legend recounts that the [[Saudeleur dynasty|Saudeleur]] rulers, the first to bring government to Pohnpei, were of foreign origin. The Saudeleur centralized form of absolute rule is characterized in Pohnpeian legend as becoming increasingly oppressive over several generations. Arbitrary and onerous demands, as well as a reputation for offending Pohnpeian deities, sowed resentment among [[Pohnpeians]]. The Saudeleur Dynasty ended with the invasion of [[Isokelekel]], another semi-mythical foreigner, who replaced the Saudeleur rule with the more decentralized ''[[tribal chief|nahnmwarki]]'' system in existence today.<ref name=Ballinger>{{cite book|title=Lost City of Stone: The Story of Nan Madol, the "Atlantis" of the Pacific |first=Bill Sanborn |last=Ballinger |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1978 |isbn=0-671-24030-7 |pages=45–48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6oSAQAAIAAJ |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref><ref name=Native>{{cite book|title=The Native Polity of Ponape |volume=10 |series=Contributions to Anthropology |first=Saul H |last=Riesenberg |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |year=1968 |pages=38–51 |isbn=9780598442437 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JV-0AAAAIAAJ |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=Petersen1>{{cite journal |title=Lost in the Weeds: Theme and Variation in Pohnpei Political Mythology |volume=35 |journal=Occasional Papers |page=34 |first=Glenn |last=Petersen |publisher=Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Hawaiian, Asian & Pacific Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |year=1990 |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/15545/OP35.pdf |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> Isokelekel is regarded as the creator of the modern Pohnpeian ''nahnmwarki'' social system and the father of the Pompeian people.<ref name=Ballinger /><ref name=Goetzfridt>{{cite book|title=Micronesian Histories: An Analytical Bibliography and Guide to Interpretations |issue=54 |series=Bibliographies and Indexes in World History |first1=Nicholas J |last1=Goetzfridt |first2=Karen M |last2=Peacock |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2002 |isbn=0-313-29103-9 |pages=3, 34–35, 102, 156–59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqqdbU0tBvAC |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref>

Construction of [[Nan Madol]], a [[megalith]]ic complex made from [[Basalt#Columnar basalt|basalt lava logs]] in Pohnpei began as early as 1200 CE. Nan Madol is offshore of [[Temwen Island]] near [[Pohnpei]], consists of a series of small [[artificial island]]s linked by a network of canals, and is often called the ''[[Venice]] of the Pacific''. It is located near the island of [[Pohnpei]] and was the ceremonial and political seat of the [[Saudeleur dynasty]] that united Pohnpei's estimated 25,000 people until its centralized system collapsed amid the invasion of [[Isokelekel]].<ref name=Petersen1 /> Isokelekel and his descendants initially occupied the stone city, but later abandoned it.<ref name=PlaceNames />

The first people of the Northern Mariana Islands navigated to the islands at some period between 4000 BCE to 2000 BCE from Southeast Asia. They became known as the [[Chamorro people|Chamorros]], and spoke an [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian language]] called [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]]. The ancient Chamorro left a number of megalithic ruins, including [[Latte stone]]. The Refaluwasch or [[Carolinian people]] came to the Marianas in the 1800s from the [[Caroline Islands]]. Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BCE, with inter-island navigation made possible using [[Marshall Islands stick chart|traditional stick charts]].<ref>[http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/orientation.htm The History of Mankind] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927110432/http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/orientation.htm |date=27 September 2013 }} by Professor Friedrich Ratzel, Book II, Section A, The Races of Oceania p. 165, picture of a stick chart from the Marshall Islands. MacMillan and Co., published 1896.</ref>