Indo-Pacific Migration and Colonization--Introduction

Date
2008
Authors
Anderson, Atholl
O'Connor, Sue
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu)
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
In this Introduction we comment on issues raised by the present collection of papers as they appear relevant in thinking about the settlement of the Indo-Pacific from the Pleistocene to the late Holocene. Successful maritime migration across this vast region was obviously related to voyaging technology and colonizing behaviors. Here we critique earlier models that indicate simple unidirectional expansion and posit farming, or indeed any other single driver, for maritime expansion in the mid-late Holocene. It now appears that the development of interaction spheres in Wallacea, and perhaps connections with New Guinea, have contributed significantly to late Holocene societies in ISEA and Island Melanesia. Even in Remote Oceania where long-term colonizing success was dependent on a transported tropical horticultural complex, initial settlement strategies are likely to have been highly varied and to have had variable success. Nor is migration restricted to the founding events of island settlement; rather, it continued as a significant component of the formation and re-formation of island cultures up to the historical era and, of course, within the present day. Like the authors represented here we suggest that if we wish to make progress in understanding the motives, sources, mechanisms and results of colonizing migration, there will be greatest reward in exploring the complexity and variability that lie behind it. KEYWORDS: Maritime migration, Indo-Pacific, Island Southeast Asia, seafaring technology, voyaging strategies, Austronesian colonization, transported landscapes.
Description
Keywords
Introduction, Maritime migration, Indo-Pacific, Island Southeast Asia, seafaring technology, voyaging strategies, Austronesian colonization, transported landscapes, Prehistoric peoples--Asia--Periodicals., Prehistoric peoples--Oceania--Periodicals., Asia--Antiquities--Periodicals., Oceania--Antiquities--Periodicals., East Asia--Antiquities--Periodicals.
Citation
Anderson, A., and S. O'Connor. 2008. Indo-Pacific Migration and Colonization--Introduction. Asian Perspectives 47 (1): 2-11.
Extent
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Table of Contents
Rights
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.