Editing History of Oceania (section)

=== Polynesia ===
{{Further|Polynesians|Polynesia#Origins and expansion}}
{{Seealso|Early history of Tonga}}

Linguistic, archaeological, and human genetic evidence identifies the [[Polynesians]] as a subset of the sea-migrating Austronesian peoples, and tracing [[Polynesian languages]] places their prehistoric origins in the [[Malay Archipelago]], and ultimately, in [[Geography of Taiwan|Taiwan]]. Between about 3000 and 1000 BCE speakers of Austronesian languages began spreading from Taiwan into [[Maritime Southeast Asia]],<ref name="matrilineality2003">{{Cite journal|last1=Hage |first1= P. |last2= Marck |first2= J. |year= 2003 |title= Matrilineality and Melanesian Origin of Polynesian Y Chromosomes |journal= Current Anthropology |volume= 44 |issue= S5 |pages= S121|doi= 10.1086/379272 |s2cid= 224791767 }}</ref><ref name="Kayser, M. 2006">{{Cite journal |last1= Kayser |first1= M. |last2= Brauer |first2= S. |last3= Cordaux |first3= R. |last4= Casto |first4= A. |last5= Lao |first5= O. |last6= Zhivotovsky |first6= L.A. |last7= Moyse-Faurie |first7= C. |last8= Rutledge |first8= R.B. |last9= Schiefenhoevel |first9= W. |last10= Gil |first10= D. |last11= Lin |first11= A.A. |last12= Underhill | first12= P.A. | last13= Oefner | first13= P.J. | last14= Trent | first14= R.J. |last15= Stoneking |first15= M. |year= 2006 |title= Melanesian and Asian origins of Polynesians: mtDNA and Y chromosome gradients across the Pacific |journal= Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume= 23 |pmid= 16923821 |issue= 11 |pages= 2234–44 |doi= 10.1093/molbev/msl093 |display-authors= 8 |url= https://repub.eur.nl/pub/63703 |doi-access= free |hdl= 11858/00-001M-0000-0010-0145-0 |hdl-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi= 10.1073/pnas.97.15.8225 |pmid= 10899994 |last1= Su |first1= B. |last2= Underhill |first2= P. |last3= Martinson |first3= J. |last4= Saha |first4= N. |last5= McGarvey |first5=S.T. |last6=Shriver |first6=M.D. |last7=Chu |first7=J. |last8=Oefner |first8= P.|last9= Chakraborty |first9= R. |last10= Chakraborty |year= 2000 |title= Polynesian origins: Insights from the Y chromosome |journal= [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] |volume= 97 |issue= 15 |pages= 8225–28 |first10= R. |last11= Deka |first11= R. |bibcode= 2000PNAS...97.8225S |pmc= 26928 |doi-access= free }}</ref> as [[Taiwanese aborigines|tribes]] thought to have travelled via South China about 8,000 years ago to the edges of western [[Micronesia]] and on into [[Melanesia]], although they differ from the [[Han Chinese]] who now comprise the majority of people in China and Taiwan. There are three theories regarding the prehistoric spread of humans across the Pacific to Polynesia. Kayser ''et al.'' (2000)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1= Kayser |first1= M. |last2= Brauer |first2= S. |last3= Weiss |first3= G. |last4= Underhill |first4= P.A.|last5= Roewer |first5= L. |last6= Schiefenhövel |first6= W. |last7= Stoneking |first7= M. |year= 2000 |title= Melanesian origin of Polynesian Y chromosomes |journal= Current Biology |pmid= 11069104 |volume= 10 |issue= 20 |pages= 1237–46 |doi= 10.1016/S0960-9822(00)00734-X |s2cid= 744958 |doi-access= free }}</ref> outline these well: 
* Express Train model: A recent (c. 3000–1000 BCE) expansion out of Taiwan, via the [[Philippines]] and eastern [[Indonesia]] and from the north-west ([[Bird's Head Peninsula|"Bird's Head"]]) of [[New Guinea]], on to [[Island Melanesia]] by roughly 1400 BCE, reaching western Polynesian islands about 900 BCE. This theory is supported by the majority of current human genetic data, [[Austronesian languages|linguistic]] data, and archaeological data
* Entangled Bank model: Emphasizes the long history of Austronesian speakers' cultural and genetic interactions with indigenous Island South-East Asians and Melanesians along the way to becoming the first Polynesians.
* Slow Boat model: Similar to the express-train model but with a longer hiatus in Melanesia along with admixture (genetically, culturally and linguistically) with the local population. This is supported by the Y-chromosome data of Kayser ''et al.'' (2000), which shows that all three [[haplotype]]s of Polynesian Y chromosomes can be traced back to Melanesia.<ref name=ANT>{{cite web|title = Melanesian and Asian Origins of Polynesians: mtDNA and Y Chromosome Gradients Across the Pacific |work= Anthrocivitas.net |date = October 2009 | url= http://anthrocivitas.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5420| access-date=23 January 2014}}</ref>

In the archaeological record there are well-defined traces of this expansion, allowing researchers to follow and date the path it took with some certainty. It is thought that by roughly 1400 BCE,<ref>{{Cite book |last= Kirch |first= P.V. |year= 2000 |title= On the road of the wings: an archaeological history of the Pacific Islands before European contact |location= London |publisher= University of California Press |isbn= 0-520-23461-8}} Quoted in Kayser, M.; ''et al.''. (2006).</ref> [[Lapita culture|"Lapita peoples"]] (so-named after their pottery tradition) appeared in the [[Bismarck Archipelago]] of northwest [[Melanesia]]. This culture is seen as having adapted and evolved through time and space since its emergence "Out of [[Taiwan]]". The Lapita people had given up rice production, for instance, after encountering and adapting to breadfruit in the Bird's Head area of New Guinea. In the end, the most eastern site for Lapita archaeological remains recovered so far has been through work on the [[archaeology of Samoa|archaeology]] in Samoa. The site is at [[Mulifanua]] on [[Upolu]]. The Mulifanua site, where 4,288 pottery shards have been found and studied, has a "true" age of {{circa}} 1000 BCE based on [[C14 dating]].<ref name="test">{{Cite journal |url= http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_98_1989/Volume_98,_No._3/New_information_for_the_Ferry_Berth_site,_Mulifanua,_Western_Samoa,_by_H._M._Leach,_p_319-330/p1?page=0&action=searchresult&target= |title=New Information for the Ferry Berth Site, Mulifanua, Western Samoa |first1=Roger C. |last1=Green |first2=Helen M. |last2=Leach |journal= Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume= 98 |year= 1989 |issue= 3 |access-date= 1 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110510004830/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_98_1989/Volume_98%2C_No._3/New_information_for_the_Ferry_Berth_site%2C_Mulifanua%2C_Western_Samoa%2C_by_H._M._Leach%2C_p_319-330/p1?page=0&action=searchresult&target= |archive-date=10 May 2011}}</ref> A 2010 study places the beginning of the human archaeological sequences of Polynesia in [[Tonga]] at 900 BCE,<ref name="burley128">{{Cite journal|first1=David V. |last1= Burley |first2= Andrew |last2= Barton |first3= William R. |last3= Dickinson |first4= Sean P.|last4= Connaughton | first5= Karine |last5= Taché |year= 2010 | title= Nukuleka as a Founder Colony for West Polynesian Settlement: New Insights from Recent Excavations | journal= Journal of Pacific Archaeology |volume= 1 |issue= 2 |pages= 128–44 }}</ref> the small differences in dates with Samoa being due to differences in radiocarbon-dating technologies between 1989 and 2010, the Tongan site apparently predating the Samoan site by some few decades in real time.

Within a mere three or four centuries between about 1300 and 900 BCE, the Lapita [[archaeological culture]] spread 6,000 kilometres eastwards from the Bismarck Archipelago, until it reached as far as [[Fiji]], [[Tonga]], and [[Samoa]].<ref name="Belwood1">{{cite book | last1= Bellwood |first1= Peter |title= The Polynesians – Prehistory of an Island People | year= 1987 |publisher= Thames and Hudson |pages= 45–65|isbn= 0-500-27450-9}}</ref><ref>PV Kirch. 1997. ''The Lapita Peoples''. Cambridge: Blackwell Publisher</ref> The area of Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa served as a gateway into the rest of the Pacific region now known as Polynesia.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Burley | first1 = DV | year = 1998 | title = Tongan Archaeology and the Tongan Past, 2850–150 B.P. | doi = 10.1023/A:1022322303769 | journal = Journal of World Prehistory | volume = 12 | issue = 3 | pages = 337–92 | s2cid = 160340278 }}</ref> Ancient Tongan mythologies, as recorded by early European explorers, report the islands of 'Ata and Tongatapu as the first islands hauled to the surface from the deep ocean by [[Māui|Maui]].<ref>Honolulu: The Museum</ref><ref>[[John Martin (meteorologist)|John Martin]]. 2005 (reprint). ''William Mariner: An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific Ocean''. Vol. 1. Elibron Classics</ref>

[[File:Haʻamonga.jpg|thumb|right|'''[[Haʻamonga ʻa Maui]]''', a stone [[trilithon]] on the Tongan island of [[Tongatapu]], constructed of three coral limestone slabs each weighing at least 30–40 tons<ref name=wondermondo>{{cite web|url= http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/Au/Tonga/Tongatapu/HaamongaaMaui.htm|title= Ha'amonga 'a Maui (Trilithon) and 'esi Maka Fa'akinanga|publisher= Wondermondo|date= 20 November 2011}}</ref> It was built at the beginning of the 13th century under the 11th [[Tuʻi Tonga]] [[Tuʻi-tā-tui]].]]

The '''"[[Tuʻi Tonga Empire]]"''' or "Tongan Empire" in [[Oceania]] are descriptions sometimes given to Tongan expansionism and projected hegemony dating back to 950 CE, but at its peak during the period 1200–1500. While modern researchers and cultural experts attest to widespread Tongan influence and evidences of transoceanic trade and exchange of material and non-material cultural artifacts, [[empirical evidence]] of a "political" empire ruled for any length of time by successive rulers is lacking.<ref name="The Pacific Islands p. 133">"The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia", edited by Lal and Fortune, p. 133</ref>

Modern archeology, anthropology and linguistic studies confirm widespread Tongan cultural influence ranging widely<ref>[http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/Alumni/addison/publications/Sand_Addison_2008.pdf Recent Advances in the Archaeology of the Fiji/West-Polynesia Region"] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090918031030/http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/Alumni/addison/publications/Sand_Addison_2008.pdf |date=18 September 2009 }} 2008: Vol 21. University of Otago Studies in Prehistoric Anthropology.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WRapfjQ_iTEC&pg=PA87 "Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An Essay in Historical Anthropology"], Patrick Vinton Kirch; Roger C. Green (2001)</ref> through East 'Uvea, Rotuma, Futuna, Samoa and Niue, parts of Micronesia (Kiribati, Pohnpei), Vanuatu, and New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xOlI8czLshIC&pg=PA233 "Geraghty, P., 1994. Linguistic evidence for the Tongan empire"], Geraghty, P., 1994 in "Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World: pp. 236–39.</ref> and while some academics prefer the term "maritime chiefdom",<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Clark | first1 = G. | last2 = Burley | first2 = D. | last3 = Murray | first3 = T. | year = 2008 | title = Monumentality in the development of the Tongan maritime chiefdom | journal = Antiquity | volume = 82 | issue = 318| pages = 994–1004 | doi=10.1017/s0003598x00097738| hdl = 1885/39600 | s2cid = 160933194 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> others argue that, while very different from examples elsewhere, ''..."empire" is probably the most convenient term.''<ref>"Pacific voyaging after the exploration period", Neich, R. 2006 in K.R. Howe (ed.) ''Vaka Moana, voyages of the ancestors: the discovery and settlement of the Pacific'': 198–245. Auckland: David Bateman. p. 230</ref>

[[Pottery]] art from Fijian towns shows that '''Fiji''' was settled before or around 3500 to 1000&nbsp;BC, although the details of Pacific migration remain vague. It is believed that the Lapita people or the ancestors of the [[Polynesians]] settled the islands first but not much is known of what became of them after the [[Melanesians]] arrived; they may have had some influence on the new culture, and archaeological evidence shows that Polynesians would have then moved on to [[Tonga]], [[Samoa]], and even Hawai'i.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

The first settlements in Fiji were started by voyaging traders and settlers from the west about 5000 years ago. Lapita pottery shards have been found at numerous excavations around the country. Aspects of Fijian culture are similar to the Melanesian culture of the western [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] but have a stronger connection to the older Polynesian cultures. Stretching across {{convert|1000|km}} from east to west, Fiji has been a nation of many languages. Fiji's history was one of settlement but also of mobility.

Over the centuries, a unique Fijian culture developed. Constant warfare and [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] between warring tribes were quite rampant and very much part of everyday life.<ref>Sanday, Peggy Reeves (1986) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SYW6EzB9rYkC&pg=PA151 Divine hunger: cannibalism as a cultural system]'', Cambridge University Press, p. 151, IBNS 0521311144.</ref> In later centuries, the reputation of the cannibal lifestyle deterred European sailors from going near Fijian waters, and Fiji acquired the name ''Cannibal Isles''; as a result, Fiji remained unknown to the rest of the world.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050301062252/http://humanities.cqu.edu.au/history/52148/modules/pacific_peoplesA.html Pacific Peoples, Melanesia/Micronesia/Polynesia], [[Central Queensland University]].</ref>

[[File:AhuTongariki.jpg|thumb|left|[[Moai]] at Ahu Tongariki on [[Easter Island|Rapa Nui]] (Easter Island)]]

Early European visitors to '''Easter Island''' recorded local oral traditions about the original settlers. In these traditions, Easter Islanders claimed that a chief [[Hotu Matuꞌa]]<ref>Resemblance of the name to an early [[Mangareva]]n founder god ''Atu Motua'' ("Father Lord") has made some historians suspect that Hotu Matua was added to Easter Island mythology only in the 1860s, along with adopting the Mangarevan language. The "real" founder would have been ''Tu'u ko Iho'', who became just a supporting character in Hotu Matu'a-centric legends. See Steven Fischer (1994). ''Rapanui's Tu'u ko Iho Versus Mangareva's 'Atu Motua. Evidence for Multiple Reanalysis and Replacement in Rapanui Settlement Traditions, Easter Island.'' The Journal of Pacific History, 29(1), 3–18. See also ''Rapa Nui / Geography, History and Religion''. Peter H. Buck, Vikings of the Pacific, University of Chicago Press, 1938. pp. 228–36. [http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/rapanui/rapa1.html Online version].</ref> arrived on the island in one or two large canoes with his wife and extended family.<ref>[http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/rapanui/hotu.html Summary of Thomas S. Barthel's version of Hotu Matu'a's arrival to Easter Island].</ref> They are believed{{cn|date=March 2024}} to have been [[Polynesians|Polynesian]]. There is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy of this legend as well as about the date of settlement. Published literature suggests the island was settled around 300–400 [[Common Era|CE]], or at about the time of the arrival of the earliest settlers in [[Hawaii]].

Some scientists say that Easter Island was not inhabited until 700–800 CE. This date-range is based on [[glottochronology|glottochronological]] calculations and on three [[radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dates]] from charcoal that appears to have been produced during forest-clearance activities.<ref>[[Jared Diamond|Diamond, Jared]]. ''[[Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed]].'' Penguin Books: 2005. {{ISBN|0-14-303655-6}}. Chapter 2: Twilight at Easter pp. 79–119. See p. 89.</ref>

Moreover, a recent study which included radiocarbon dates from what is thought to be very early material suggests that the island was settled as recently as 1200 CE.<ref>Hunt, T.L., Lipo, C.P., 2006. Science, 1121879. See also [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1121879v1 "Late Colonization of Easter Island"] in ''Science Magazine''. [http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/projects/rapanui/hunt_lipo2006.pdf Entire article] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080829124029/http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/projects/rapanui/hunt_lipo2006.pdf |date= 29 August 2008 }} is also hosted by the Department of Anthropology of the University of Hawaii.</ref> This seems to be supported by a 2006 study of the island's deforestation, which could have started around the same time.<ref name="huntlipo2006">{{Cite magazine | title= Rethinking the Fall of Easter Island | first1= Terry L. | last1= Hunt | magazine= American Scientist | volume= 94 | issue= 5 | year= 2006 | pages= 412–19 | url= http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/id.1002,y.2006,no.5,content.true,css.print/issue.aspx | doi=10.1511/2006.61.412 | doi-broken-date= 1 November 2024 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141006110649/http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/id.1002,y.2006,no.5,content.true,css.print/issue.aspx | archive-date=6 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="huntlipo2011">{{Cite book| publisher = Free Press| isbn = 978-1-4391-5031-3| last1 = Hunt| first1 = Terry| last2 = Lipo| first2 = Carl| title = The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island| year = 2011}}</ref> A large, now [[extinction|extinct]], [[Arecaceae|palm]], ''[[Paschalococos]] disperta'' (related to the [[Chilean wine palm]] ''([[Jubaea]] chilensis)''), was one of the dominant trees as attested by fossil evidence; this species, unique to Easter Island, became extinct due to deforestation by the early Polynesian settlers.<ref>C. Michael Hogan (2008) [http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82831 ''Chilean Wine Palm: Jubaea chilensis'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121017013207/http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82831 |date=17 October 2012 }}
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