Melanesia
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[[Image:Map OC-Melanesia.PNG||thumb|right|300px|Map of Melanesia, surrounded by a pink line]]
'''Melanesia''' (from [[Greek language|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 northeast of [[Australia]]. The term was first used by [[Jules Dumont d'Urville]] in 1832 to denote an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands distinct from [[Polynesia]] and [[Micronesia]].
Today, d'Urville's [[Race (classification of human beings)|racial]] classification is regarded to be inaccurate because it ignores the broad cultural, linguistic, and [[genetic diversity]] in the area. There is no one 'Melanesian culture' or way of life. The peoples in the area named Melanesia are among the most diverse in the world; linguistically, genetically, socially and culturally. The European powers in the 19th and 20th centuries were the ones who fostered the illusion of there being one 'Melanesian culture.'
More accurately however, there is a widely used [[geopolitics|geopolitical]] conception of the term 'Melanesia'. For example, the [[Melanesian Spearhead Group]] [[Preferential Trade Arrangement|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 [[geography|geographic]] term, used as a reference to the area when national, ethnic, and linguistic distinctions are not relevant.<ref name="birds">{{cite book|author=Diamond, Jared and Ernst Mayr|year=2001|title=The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology, and Biogeography|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=N.Y.|id=ISBN 0-19-514170-9}}</ref>
==People==
The original inhabitants of the islands now named Melanesia were likely the ancestors of the present day Papuan-speaking people. These people are thought to have occupied New Guinea tens of millennia ago and reached the islands 35,000 years ago (according to radiocarbon dating).<!--It should be stated where they came from before they got to Papua and the Pacific Islands.--> They appear to have occupied these islands as far east as the main islands in the Solomon Islands (i.e., including [[Makira|San Cristobal]]) and perhaps even to the smaller islands farther to the east.<ref>{{cite journal| author=Dunn, Michael, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, Robert A. Foley, Stephen C. Levinson| year=2005| title=Structural Phylogenetics and the Reconstruction of Ancient Language History| journal=Science| volume=309| pages=2072–2075| doi=10.1126/science.1114615| pmid=16179483 }}</ref>
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 4000 years ago. There was probably a long period of interaction that resulted in many complex changes in genetics, languages, and culture.<ref>{{cite book| author=Spriggs, Matthew|year=1997|title=The Island Melanesians|publisher=Blackwell|id=ISBN 0631167277}}</ref> It is likely that from this area a very small group of people (speaking an Austronesian language) departed to the east to become the forebears of the [[Polynesian peoples| Polynesian people]].<ref>{{cite journal | author=Kayser, Manfred, Silke Brauer, Gunter Weiss, Peter A. Underhill, Lutz Rower, Wulf Schiefenhövel and Mark Stoneking| year=2000 | title=The Melanesian Origin of Polynesian Y chromosomes| journal=Current Biology |volume=10|pages=1237–1246 |doi=10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00029-X }}</ref> This finding is, however, contradicted by a study published by [[Temple University]] finding that Polynesians and Micronesians have little genetic relation to Melanesians; instead they found significant diversity of between groups living within the Melanesian islands. [http://www.temple.edu/ATTIC/newsroom/2007_2008/01/stories/pacificislander.htm] Genome scan shows Polynesians have little genetic relationship to Melanesians.
{{cite journal
| last = Friedlaender
| first = Jonathan
| authorlink = Jonathan Friedlaender...
| coauthors = Friedlaender JS, Friedlaender FR, Reed FA, Kidd KK, Kidd JR, et al.
| title = The Genetic Structure of Pacific Islanders
| journal = Public Library of Science
| volume = PLoS Genet
| issue = 4(1): e19 doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.0040019
| pages =
| publisher = [[Temple University]]
| location = Philadelphia, PA 19122
| date = 2008-01-18
| url = http://genetics.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.0040019
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2008-01-18}}
== Location ==
The following islands and groups of islands since the 19th century have been considered part of Melanesia:
* [[Bismarck Archipelago]]
* [[Fiji]]
* [[Maluku Islands]]
* [[New Caledonia]]
* [[New Guinea]] ([[Papua (Indonesian province)|Papua]] and [[West Papua (Indonesian province)|West Papua]] in Indonesia, and the 15 provinces of the [[Papua New Guinea]] mainland)
* [[Norfolk Island]]
* [[Solomon Islands]]
* [[Torres Strait Islands]]
* [[Vanuatu]]
Islands whose long-established inhabitants are of mixed ancestry who do not necessarily self-identify as Melanesian:
* [[Flores]]
* [[Nauru]]
* [[Sumba]]
* [[Timor]] ([[West Timor]] in Indonesia and the nation of [[Timor-Leste]])
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 do not make use of the term.
== References ==
<div class=references-small><references/></div>
== See also ==
*[[Papuan]]
*[[Negrito]]
*[[Bishop of Melanesia]]
*[[Melanesian Brotherhood]]
*[[Polynesians]]
*[[Micronesians]]
== External links ==
* [http://www.mapsouthpacific.com/ Map South Pacific]
* [http://www.southpacific.org/ South Pacific Organizer]
* [http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/PNAS_2000_v97_p8225.pdf Polynesian origins: Insights from the Y chromosome]
* [http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2001_v68_p173-190.pdf Independent Histories of Human Y Chromosomes from Melanesia and Australia]
*[http://westmelanesia.com/ A site about West Melanesia]
*[http://birdsofmelanesia.net/ Bird checklists for Melanesian islands]
*[http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/cart/shopcore/?db_name=uhpress&page=shop/flypage&product_id=2978&category_id=b3e6237d1b1b3b8594488ed1c40d0dfb&PHPSESSID=40c869f223f32d8c1b34a69d0fc051d4 New Guinea: Crossing Boundaries and History] - a general history of New Guinea
* [http://anglicanhistory.org/oceania Anglican historical texts related to Melanesia]
{{Countries and territories of Oceania}}
{{Regions of the world}}
<!--Categories-->
[[Category:Melanesia| ]]
[[Category:Oceania]]
[[Category:Islands of Oceania]]
[[Category:Islands of the Pacific Ocean]]
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[[ar:ميلانيسيا]]
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