| Description |
Around four thousand years ago, Austronesian-speaking people sailed from Taiwan into the greater Pacific. A thousand years later, they were the first people to land in Vanuatu and Tonga. Then these Austronesian voyagers mixed with Papuan populations in what is now Papua New Guinea, and those people later became the Polynesian voyagers. Evidence now suggests that the extent of Austronesian and Polynesian voyaging was greater than once thought, ranging from Madagascar to Brazil—over two-thirds around the globe. The seafaring vessels that the Austronesian voyagers created were the vehicles of the greatest human migration ever made. |
