By 1200 CE, the population of Oceania had become a web of far-flung communities.
By 1200 CE, the population of Oceania had become a web of far-flung communities. Despite long distances and great diversity, they used sophisticated maritime technology to stay connected.
Acknowledging Pacific history
The Pacific Ocean is a really big place. In this article, we’re only talking about one part of the Pacific. Oceania lies within the vastness of the world’s greatest ocean, but it‘s a huge region in its own right! We’re not going to deal much with the peoples on the Pacific Coast of East Asia or Siberia. Nor will we discuss the indigenous societies that settled the Pacific coast of North and South America. We’ll focus on Oceania—which includes island groups known as Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and some parts of Australasia, including New Zealand, New Guinea, and the east coast of Australia. Much of this region was populated by humans as many as 40,000 years ago! You may have seen a representation of this process in Disney’s Moana. The film depicts the historical movement of Polynesian peoples through the song “Know the Way.” It also shows Moana herself navigating by the stars via technologies Pacific peoples pioneered over thousands of years of seafaring.
But here’s a weird fact. Oceania, and the peoples of the Pacific, were often left out of world history textbooks (at least those written in the US) until about 1999. That was when two historians, both teaching at the University of Hawaii, wrote Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past.
\[^1\] They were, after all, living in Hawaii, the long-standing Pacific society established by the Polynesian people. They knew that Hawaiians historically were part of a Pacific community that played a significant role in the human past.
So, in their textbook, they made sure to acknowledge that history. It became a bestseller, changing the way this region has been studied ever since.
Human geography of the Pacific, c. 1200
Scholars also continue to debate whether this first wave of migrations from southeast Asia was intentional or unintentional. Oceania was settled by humans over a long period beginning 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, though scientists still argue about these numbers. Scholars also continue to debate whether this first wave of migrations was intentional or unintentional. New studies have shown that unintentional crossings—journeys where ships went off course or had no intended destination in the first place but still managed to settle somewhere—were unlikely. Therefore, it’s possible that early humans intentionally island-hopped from southeast Asia to the coast of New Guinea using early boat-building and sailing technologies. Once there, people developed sophisticated agricultural techniques and built densely-populated communities.
Some of these people then also crossed the straits that separate New Guinea from Australia. Those who settled in Australia encountered a difficult new set of environments, including widespread arid (dry) zones. Few plant or animal spe