Micronesians: Difference between revisions

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| langs = [[Micronesian languages]], [[Yapese language|Yapese]], [[Chamorro language|Chamorro]], [[Palauan language|Palauan]], [[English language|English]]

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The '''Micronesians''' or '''Micronesian peoples''' are various closely related [[ethnic group]]s [[Indigenous peoples of Oceania|native to]] [[Micronesia]], a region of [[Oceania]] in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. They are a part of the [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] ethnolinguistic group, which has an [[Urheimat]] in [[Taiwan]].<ref name="Doran1981"/>

 

 

==Origins==

Based on the current scientific consensus, the Micronesians are considered, by linguistic, archaeological, and human genetic evidence, to be a subset of the sea-migrating [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian people]], who include the [[Polynesians]] and the [[Melanesians]]. Austronesians were the first people to invent oceangoing sailing technologies (notably [[Catamaran#Development in Oceania and Asia|double-hulled sailing canoes]], [[outrigger boat]]s, [[lashed-lug]] [[boat building]], and the [[crab claw sail]]), which enabled their rapid dispersal into the islands of the [[Indo-Pacific]].<ref name="Doran1981">{{cite book |last1=Doran |first1=Edwin B. |title=Wangka: Austronesian Canoe Origins |date=1981 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=9780890961070}}</ref><ref name="Dierking2007">{{cite book |last1=Dierking |first1=Gary |title=Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes: Modern Construction Methods for Three Fast, Beautiful Boats |date=2007 |publisher=International Marine/McGraw-Hill |isbn=9780071594561}}</ref><ref name="Horridge1986">{{cite journal |last1=Horridge |first1=Adrian |title=The Evolution of Pacific Canoe Rigs |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |date=1986 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=83–89 |jstor=25168892|doi=10.1080/00223348608572530 }}</ref> From 2000 BCE the Austronesians assimilated (or were assimilated by) the earlier populations on the islands in their migration pathway.<ref name="Bellwood1988">{{cite journal |last1=Bellwood |first1=Peter |title=A Hypothesis for Austronesian Origins |journal=Asian Perspectives |date=1988 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=107–117 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/5105193.pdf |access-date=1 May 2019 |archive-date=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501105624/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/5105193.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Bellwood 1991">{{cite journal |last1=Bellwood |first1=Peter |title=The Austronesian Dispersal and the Origin of Languages |journal=Scientific American |date=1991 |volume=265 |issue=1 |pages=88–93 |jstor=24936983|bibcode=1991SciAm.265a..88B |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0791-88 }}</ref><ref name="hill&serjeanston1989">{{cite book |editor=Hill, Adrian V.S. |editor2=Serjeantson, Susan W. |title =The Colonization of the Pacific: A Genetic Trail|publisher =Oxford University Press|series =Research Monographs on Human Population Biology No. 7|year =1989|isbn = 9780198576952}}</ref><ref name="Bellwood2006">{{cite book |last1=Bellwood |first1=Peter |last2=Fox |first2=James J. |last3=Tryon |first3=Darrell |name-list-style=vanc |title=The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives |date=2006 |publisher=Australian National University Press |isbn=9781920942854 |url=https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/comparative-austronesian-series/austronesians |access-date=23 March 2019 |archive-date=2 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402234524/https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/comparative-austronesian-series/austronesians |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="blench2012">{{cite book|author =Blench, Roger|editor =Tjoa-Bonatz, Mai Lin|editor2 =Reinecke, Andreas|editor3 =Bonatz, Dominik|title =Crossing Borders|chapter =Almost Everything You Believed about the Austronesians Isn't True|publisher =National University of Singapore Press|year =2012|pages =128–148|isbn =9789971696429|chapter-url =http://www.rogerblench.info/Archaeology/SE%20Asia/Berlin%202010/Blench%20Austronesians%202012%20offprint.pdf|access-date =23 March 2019|archive-date =30 December 2019|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20191230083644/http://www.rogerblench.info/Archaeology/SE%20Asia/Berlin%202010/Blench%20Austronesians%202012%20offprint.pdf|url-status =live}}</ref> This intermingling occurred in the northern coast of New Guinea and adjacent islands, which was the location where the Oceanic language family developed around four thousand years or so ago, after the Austronesian languages of this area grew distinct and became a separate branch of the Austronesian family.<ref name=Petersen/>

[[File:Carte lapita.png|thumb|250px|A map of the Lapita-cultural area]]

 

 

 

Archeological evidence has revealed that some of the [[Bonin Islands]] were prehistorically inhabited by members of an unknown Micronesian ethnicity.<ref name="history">{{Cite web|url=http://www.iwojima.jp/ogasa2.html|title=小笠原諸島の歴史|website=www.iwojima.jp}}</ref>

 

===Banaban people===

Raobeia Ken Sigrah claims that Banabans, native to [[Banaba]], are ethnically distinct from other I-Kiribati.<ref name=Sigrah>{{cite book|last=Sigrah|first=Raobeia Ken, and Stacey M. King|title=''Te rii ni Banaba.''|year=2001|publisher=Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji|isbn=982-02-0322-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CKIr1eg77IwC}}</ref> The Banabans were assimilated through [[forced migration]]s and the heavy impact of the discovery of [[Phosphate mining in Banaba and Nauru|phosphate in 1900]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/banaba/11163312|title=Banaba: The island Australia ate|date=30 May 2019|website=Radio National|language=en-AU|access-date=6 June 2019}}</ref> After 1945, the British authorities relocated most of the population to [[Rabi Island]], [[Fiji]], with subsequent waves of emigration in 1977, and from 1981 to 1983. Some Banabans subsequently returned, following the end of mining in 1979; approximately 300 were living on the island in 2001. The population of Banaba in the 2010 census was 295.<ref name="B2012">{{cite web| work= Office of Te Beretitenti – Republic of Kiribati Island Report Series|title= 19. Banaba|year = 2012 |url= http://www.climate.gov.ki/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/19_BANABA-revised-2012.pdf| access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> There is an estimated 6,000 people of Banaban descent in Fiji and other countries.<ref name="Teaiwa1">{{cite book |last= Teaiwa |first= Katerina Martina|author-link= |date= 2014 |title= Consuming Ocean Island: Stories of People and Phosphate from Banaba|url= |location= Bloomington|publisher= Indiana University Press |pages= |isbn= 9780253014528}}</ref><ref name="Teaiwa2">{{cite web| last =Prestt | first =Kate |title= Australia's shameful chapter|publisher= 49(1) ANUReporter |page=|year = 2017|url= https://reporter.anu.edu.au/australia%E2%80%99s-shameful-chapter| accessdate=19 September 2021}}</ref>

 

=== Refaluwasch people ===

[[File:Carolinian people in 1915.jpg|thumb|Carolinian/Refaluwasch people in 1915]]

 

The immigration of [[Refaluwasch]] to [[Saipan]] began in the early 19th century, after the [[Spain|Spanish]] reduced the local population of [[Chamorro people|Chamorro]] natives to just 3,700. They began to [[immigrate]] mostly sailing from small [[canoes]] from other islands, which a [[typhoon]] previously devastated. The [[Refaluwasch]] have a much darker complexion than the native [[Chamorro people|Chamorros]].

 

===Chamorro people===

The [[Chamorro people]] are the [[indigenous peoples]] of the [[Mariana Islands]], which are politically divided between the [[Territories of the United States|United States territory]] of [[Guam]] and the United States [[Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands]] in Micronesia. The Chamorro are commonly believed to have come from [[Southeast Asia]] at around 2000 [[Common Era|BC]]. They are most closely related to other [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] natives to the west in the [[Philippines]] and [[Taiwanese aborigines|Taiwan]], as well as the [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]] to the south.

 

 

===Chuukese people===

The [[Chuukese people]] are an [[ethnic group]] of [[Chuuk State]]. They constitute 48% of the population of the [[Federated States of Micronesia]]. Their language is [[Chuukese language|Chuukese]]. The home atoll of [[Chuuk Lagoon|Chuuk]] is also known by the former name "Truk".

 

===Kiribati people===

{{redirect|Kiribati people|information on the population of Kiribati|Demographics of Kiribati}}

 

===Kosraean people===

 

===Marshallese people===

{{redirect|Marshallese people|information on the population of the Marshall Islands|Demographics of the Marshall Islands}}

 

===Nauruan people===

The [[Nauruans]] are an [[ethnicity]] inhabiting the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] [[island]] of [[Nauru]]. They are most likely a blend of [[Indigenous peoples of Oceania|other Pacific peoples]].<ref>{{cite book|title=FutureFish 2001: FutureFish in Century 21: The North Pacific Fisheries Tackle Asian Markets, the Can-Am Salmon Treaty, and Micronesian Seas|first=C.D. | last = Bay-Hansen|year=2006|publisher=[[Trafford Publishing]]|isbn=1-55369-293-4|page=277}}</ref>

 

 

===Palauan people===

[[File:Palauan mother 1st baby ceremony.jpg|thumb|Palauan mother 1st baby ceremony ]]

{{redirect|Palauans|information on the population of Palau|Demographics of Palau}}

 

===Pohnpeian people===

The Pohnpeians or Ponapeans are the indigenous people of [[Pohnpei]]. They number around 28,000. They speak the [[Pohnpeian language]].

 

 

===Yapese people===

The [[Yapese people]] are a Micronesian ethnic group that number around 15,000. They are native to the main island of [[Yap]] and speak the [[Yapese language]].

 

 

==Culture==

 

The Micronesian cultures evolved from a common foundation and share a common dominator in the relationship and dependence they have with their ancestral lands. The ancestral land influenced the social organization, family structures, the economy, shared food and common work. The Micronesian family is formed from four equally important components, the household, the nuclear family, the extended family, and a lineage. The family and the community would cooperate with fishing, farming, raising children and passing knowledge to the next generations. Individuals and families would conform their behavior to cooperate with the community.<ref name="TheMicronesians"/>

 

{{Culture of Oceania}}

 

[[Category:Indigenous peoples of Micronesia]]