Melanesia Totally Explained

Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western side of the West Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. The term was first used by Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1832 CE to denote an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands distinct from Polynesia and Micronesia.
Today d'Urville's racial classification is known to be inaccurate because it obscures the very great cultural, linguistic, and genetic diversity in the area and combines two quite distinct groups, the Austronesians (who have a much wider distribution than just Melanesia) and the Papuans (who themselves comprise a number of separate groups). A further complication is that the term Melanesian is sometimes used to refer solely to the Austronesian peoples of that region, especially when contrasting them with the Polynesians and Micronesians (both of which groups are also Austronesian).
In contrast, the geopolitical conception of Melanesia is widely used. For example, the Melanesian Spearhead Group Preferential Trade Agreement is a regional trade treaty governing the states of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. 'Melanesia' is also current as a geographic term, to refer to the area when national, ethnic and linguistic distinctions are not relevant.

People

The original inhabitants of the islands now named Melanesia are likely to have been the ancestors of the present-day Papuan language speaking people. These people are thought to have occupied New Guinea tens of millennia ago, and reached the islands at least 35,000 years ago (according to radiocarbon dating). They appear to have occupied these islands as far east as the main islands in the Solomon Islands (for example including San Cristobal) and perhaps even to the smaller islands further to the east.
It was particularly along the north coast of New Guinea and in the islands north and east of New Guinea that the Austronesian people came into contact with these pre-existing populations of Papuan speaking peoples, probably around four thousand years ago. It seems there was a long period of interaction which resulted in many complex changes in genetics, languages and culture. It is likely that it's from this area that a very small group of people (who spoke an Austronesian language) departed to the east to become the Founders of the Polynesian people.

Location

The following islands and groups of islands since the 19th century have been considered part of Melanesia:

Bismarck Archipelago
Fiji
New Caledonia
New Guinea (Papua New Guinea mainland and the Indonesian province of Papua)
Maluku Islands
Solomon Islands
Torres Strait Islands
Vanuatu
Palau Islands

Islands whose long-established inhabitants are of mixed ancestry which don't necessarily self-identify as Melanesian:

Flores

Nauru

Sumba

Timor Some of the islands to the west of New Guinea such as Halmahera, Alor and Pantar can also be considered to be part of Melanesia, although people in this area don't make use of the term.

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