Austronesian peoples

The Austronesian people are a large group of peoples who speak Austronesian languages. They have settled in many places, including Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar. They also include indigenous groups in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Hainan, and the Torres Strait Islands. The areas where they live are sometimes called Austronesia.

They originated from a prehistoric seaborne migration that started in Taiwan between 3000 and 1500 BCE. Using sails and advanced boats like catamarans and outrigger boats, they spread quickly across the Indo-Pacific. They reached places as far apart as Easter Island to the east, Madagascar to the west, and New Zealand to the south.

Besides sharing a common language family, Austronesian peoples also share many cultural traditions. These include building special ships, tattooing, living in stilt houses, carving jade, farming in wet areas, and creating rock art. They also brought with them important plants and animals such as rice, bananas, coconuts, breadfruit, Dioscorea yams, taro, paper mulberry, chickens, pigs, and dogs.

History of research

See also: Malay race

People have noticed connections between places like Madagascar, Polynesia, and Southeast Asia for a long time. Early writers saw similarities in languages and numbers. In 1708, a Dutch writer named Adriaan Reland wrote about a "common language" from Madagascar to western Polynesia. Later, other writers also noticed these links.

In the 1700s and 1800s, scientists began grouping these people together. One scientist, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, called them the "Malay race" because many spoke similar languages. Later, other scientists had different ideas about how to group these people.

Over time, language experts studied the languages and realized they all belonged to one big language family. In 1899, a scientist named Wilhelm Schmidt coined the term "Austronesian" to describe this language family. Today, "Austronesian" refers to the people who speak these languages.

Researchers have been studying these languages and people for a long time. Two important papers from the late 20th century helped shape modern understanding of how these people spread across the world.

Even today, scientists sometimes disagree about exactly when and how these people moved, but most agree on a main idea called the "Out of Taiwan" model. Other ideas exist too, like the "Out of Sundaland" model.

Geographic distribution

See also: Austronesian expansion, Micronesian navigation, and Polynesian navigation

The Austronesian peoples were among the first humans to travel far using boats. This helped them settle in many parts of the Indo-Pacific region. Long ago, their languages were spoken from Easter Island in the eastern Pacific Ocean to Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean.

Today, many people speak Austronesian languages. These languages include Indonesian, Filipino, and Tagalog. The areas where these people live are often called "Austronesia". These places are mostly islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, with warm, rainy weather.

People who speak these languages live in Taiwan, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Micronesia, the Philippines, and Polynesia. They are also found in Singapore, New Zealand, Hawaii, Chile, and Australia. Some live in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and other places because they moved there recently.

Austronesian peoples include groups such as the Formosan in Taiwan, and many others across Borneo, Cambodia, Madagascar, Melanesia, Micronesia, the Philippines, and Polynesia. These groups speak many different languages but share a common history from their seafaring ancestors.

History

Prehistory

The Austronesian peoples are a large group who speak similar languages. They settled in areas like Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar. They also include minority groups in countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Hainan, and the Torres Strait Islands.

In prehistory, the origins of Austronesian peoples are explained by the "two-layer model." This model suggests that an original population in Island Southeast Asia mixed with incoming groups from Taiwan and southern China around 4,000 years ago. These Austronesian-speaking people also mixed with local populations as they moved through the islands they settled.

Migration from Taiwan

The major migration of Austronesian peoples from Taiwan occurred between 3000 and 1500 BCE. This movement was largely driven by population growth. These early settlers first arrived in northern Luzon in the Philippines, mixing with the existing Australo-Melanesian population. Over the next thousand years, they spread southeast through the Philippines and into islands like the Celebes Sea and Borneo. From southwestern Borneo, they migrated west to Sumatra and southern Vietnam.

Soon after reaching the Philippines, Austronesians colonized the Northern Mariana Islands by 1500 BCE. An important branch of this migration was the Lapita culture, which spread into islands off the coast of northern New Guinea and into the Solomon Islands by 1200 BCE. They reached Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga by around 900 to 800 BCE. This was the farthest extent of Austronesian expansion until around 700 CE, when another wave of colonization began. This later wave reached the Cook Islands, Tahiti, and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaii by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and New Zealand by 1200 CE.

In the Indian Ocean, Austronesians in Maritime Southeast Asia established trade links with South Asia. They also made early long-distance contacts with Africa. By the end of the first millennium BCE, Austronesians were sailing trade routes linking China with the western Indian Ocean, India, the Roman Empire, and Africa. An Austronesian group from the Makassar Strait region eventually settled Madagascar, either directly from Southeast Asia or from mixed Austronesian-Bantu populations in East Africa.

Culture

The culture of Austronesian peoples changes from place to place. The sea was very important to them. They traveled by boat to many islands across Southeast Asia and Oceania. Boats of all sizes are found in every Austronesian culture, from Madagascar to Polynesia, and have different names.

Seagoing catamaran and outrigger ship designs were big achievements of the Austronesian peoples. They were the first people with boats that could cross big stretches of water. These boats let them settle the Indo-Pacific long ago. Today, Austronesian groups still mainly use outrigger canoes.

Austronesian buildings look different but often have similar features that show they came from the same place. Many have floors raised on poles, which help keep out floodwater and can also protect people. The house posts often have big discs on top to keep pests out. Raised storage rooms were important signs of status among rice-growing Austronesians.

Pottery

Pottery making started in the northern Philippines around 2000 to 1800 BCE. It spread south and west to Island Southeast Asia and east to Island Melanesia, leading to the Lapita culture around the Bismarck Archipelago. The oldest known pottery in Oceania is from the Marianas Islands, from 1500 BCE–1300 BCE.

Music and dance

Slit drums and gong groups are common in Island Southeast Asia. Making gongs began with the Bronze Age cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia and spread to the Austronesian islands through trade. In western Island Southeast Asia, these traditions are called gamelan, while in eastern Island Southeast Asia, they are called kulintang.

Jade carving

Jade carving was an important tradition for Austronesian peoples. The Liangzhu culture of the Yangtze River delta was an ancient center of Neolithic jade carving. Jade spread to Taiwan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, where it was used to make tools, ornaments, and special double-headed pendants called lingling-o.

Rock art

Rock art linked to the Austronesian expansion shows pictures and carvings made by local people. In Southeast Asia, these can be split into three groups: the Megalithic Culture of Borneo, Sulawesi, and the Greater Sunda Islands; the Austronesian Painting Tradition of the Lesser Sunda Islands, coastal New Guinea, and Island Melanesia; and the Austronesian Engraving Style of Papua New Guinea and Island Melanesia.

Body art

Body art, especially tattooing, is common among Austronesian peoples. Tattoos had different meanings, such as showing a warrior’s successes or marking the rites of becoming an adult. Among the Indigenous Taiwanese, tattoos showed skills in weaving, farming, hunting, and battle. In the Philippines, tattooing traditions have mostly disappeared, though some highland groups still practice them.

Religion

The religions of the Austronesian peoples focus on spirits of ancestors, nature, and gods. Stories about these vary by culture but often include ancestor worship, animism, shamanism, and belief in a spirit world and powerful gods. Many native religions have become part of foreign religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.

Writing

Austronesians did not have their own writing system but began using or creating writing after meeting with other cultures. Rongorongo, found on Rapa Nui, is the only known writing from before contact that may be true writing. In Southeast Asia, the first true writing systems came from scripts in South India. Different kinds of writing spread through Austronesian cultures as kingdoms grew through early sea trade.

Genetic studies

See also: Genetic studies on Filipinos

Genetic studies have looked at the Austronesian peoples. One study found a group of genes, called Haplogroup O1a, in people from Taiwan, northern Filipinos, and some in Indonesia, Malaysia, and parts of southern China. Another study found the same genes in very old bones from China, linking them to people from Taiwan and nearby areas.

Recent studies show that most Austronesian people share genes from people who lived in Fujian long ago. They also share genes with people from early Fujian, showing connections between different groups. A special group of genes, called the "Polynesian motif," helps show how Polynesians and people from Island Southeast Asia are related, even reaching as far as Madagascar.

Studies of tiny organisms in the gut, called Helicobacter pylori, also show how Austronesian people moved. These tiny organisms changed as people moved from Taiwan to places like New Guinea and Polynesia.

A study from 2014 found that people from Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, like Fiji and Polynesia, share many genes with people from Taiwan. People from western Island Southeast Asia also share some genes with other groups, but not as much with Taiwan.

In 2020, a company noticed that people without Filipino roots were sometimes shown to have "Filipino" in their DNA tests. This happened because of shared genes from Austronesian ancestors.

Evidence from agriculture

Main article: Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia

See also: Maritime Silk Road, History of rice cultivation, and Genomics of domestication

When Austronesian people moved, they brought plants and animals with them in their boats. These included important foods like coconuts, bananas, rice, sugarcane, and breadfruit. They also brought animals like dogs, pigs, and chickens.

These plants and animals helped them survive on islands and also spread to other places through trade. For example, they shared crops like betel nut and coconuts with people in Sri Lanka and Southern India. In return, they got crops like mung bean and horsegram.

There are also signs that Austronesian people might have reached Africa very early, bringing crops like bananas and taro.

Pre-Columbian contact with the Americas

See also: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories

A study from 2020 found that people from Austronesian backgrounds had contact with South America between 1150 and 1200 CE, especially between Fatu Hiva and Colombia.