To Eddy1977: This is what i found online about the probable origins of the peoples in the south pacific, however it is contradictory at best, and everyone have a different opinion about the origins of the people in the Pacific. Are Melanesians and Polynesians related according to scientist at Temple university they are not, However they have noticed among Melanesians that the genes shows a great deal of genetic diversity, in other words, they also conclude not all Melanesians are genetically relatied. However, one thing is certain the country Fiji is the regional fault line between Melanesia and Polynesia. According to scientific dogma, the people in western Fiji look more so called Melanesian, while those of the East look more similar to their Polynesia cousins. However, from my visit to both areas, to a certain degree it is true, but not always. This is strange even in so called Melanesia you still have polynesians minorities in each countries. here is a excerpt from the website i found.



[b]Certainly, the evidence now suggests that the early inhabitants of Melanesian Papua New Guinea arrived in the region much earlier than previously thought. This arrival was at least 40,000 years ago with carbon dating of camp sites confirming an occupancy of at least 25,000 years. What is apparent also is that these early Melanesians came from a seafaring culture and were capable of making voyages of at least 100 kilometers of open sea.

Archaeologists believe that Polynesian people came from a small central group on the island of Taiwan. Genetic studies have now indicated the manner that the ancestors of the sailors of the great canoes started out on their journey further along the trail in eastern Indonesia.

Researchers in New Zealand have also recently concluded that the male and female ancestors of Maori came from different places. The team, from Victoria University in Wellington, have found that Maori women have genetic markers that suggest their ancestors came from mainland South-east Asia, probably about 6,000 years ago. As they travelled south from island to island, it appears that Melanesian men joined the men and women on the boat, with a small group of people eventually arriving in New Zealand about 1,000 years ago. [/b]

Here is the website Eddy1977:

http://www.janesoceania.com/melanesia_origins/index.htm

most of the natives in the south pacific are simmilar to the pictures above

ababda- there is a tribe in indonesia which fits the theme of the pics, forgive me i cant remeber thier name, perhaps youd find them intresting as well

Agathamari

To: Agathamari: Actually Populationwise Melanesians are the numerically the majority in the south pacific racially speaking. As far as the tribes in indonesia, you must remember Melanesia Indonesia which include the island of eastern New Guinea or Irian Jaya consist of many different tribal groups, which i would try to highlight on this forum. Also the people in East timor and many of the other islands closer to Irian Jaya also have a large Melanesian majority population, so i just wondering which group of people you are talking about? It is interesting most of the islands dominanted by melanesians in Indonesia are christian while the rest of Indonesia is predominately muslims. However, nearly all of Melanesia as well as polynesian are Christians.

ababda:

most of the natives in the south pacific are simmilar to the pictures above

ababda- there is a tribe in indonesia which fits the theme of the pics, forgive me i cant remeber thier name, perhaps youd find them intresting as well

Agathamari

To: Agathamari: Actually Populationwise Melanesians are the numerically the majority in the south pacific racially speaking. As far as the tribes in indonesia, you must remember Melanesia Indonesia which include the island of eastern New Guinea or Irian Jaya consist of many different tribal groups, which i would try to highlight on this forum. Also the people in East timor and many of the other islands closer to Irian Jaya also have a large Melanesian majority population, so i just wondering which group of people you are talking about? It is interesting most of the islands dominanted by melanesians in Indonesia are christian while the rest of Indonesia is predominately muslims. However, nearly all of Melanesia as well as polynesian are Christians.

this trib is in the far noth of indonesia not one of the islands. i saw them on a documentary a few years back and now im drawing a blank. another tribe in nepal as well. sorry brain freeze. ill have to look it up

Here is some more pictures of post colonial Fiji.

and here is the link to the websites of post colonial Fiji

http://www.fijihosting.com/bulaman/fidschi/fijioldphotos.htm

Post colonial fijians, man with comb

colonial fiji photos

colonial Fiji: Lau island woman, Lau is located in eastern Fiji next to the polynesian island of Tonga

colonial Fiji, chief or Ratu folk

Last of the photos of Fijians

last of the fijians

last of the Fijian photos

finally last of the fijians:

some of their politicans

last of the Fiji photos

one more photo of fijian and solomon islander girl

and solomon islander girl child

The people of Vanuatu

People from Vanuatu

people of Vanuatu

@ Ababda.

nice analysis on these people. Please edumacate our people,

I would like to add that tropically adapted people do retain many of their adaptations in tropical climates so it is not unusual to see that these people resemble Africans in terms of morphology and pigmentation.

It is also lends credence to the out of Africa hypothesis i.e.  if you remove any population from Africa and isolate them for an extended period of time say 30,000 ina different enviroment it is without a doubt that they would change phenotypically as certain traits would be selected for breeding purposes and thus in the long term differencies would appear btw the contremporary populations of Africa and the migrants.

It takes a keen eye to see that there is obviously a  gradial resemblance with the vanatu man, the Australian Aborigine, a fijian and a tongan man.

People of  Madagascar are examples of people of different continents who have been introduced and left inhibited to breeding as in a cross btw African and Indonesian people.(note malagasy often resemble melanisians as well)

I[i] often wonder how the world population would look like if some devious people hadn't created social stratification and racial hierachies in seperating people.Hmmmmm?[/i]

Morpheus24, Thank you for your comment, encourage, and for enjoying this trend. Your last sentence i often wonder what the world would have been like without these foolish racial hierarchies. Yeah, i do wonder about that quite often, indeed. Thank you again.

The indigeous people of New Caledonia. New Caledonia is a french territory, however unlike Australia which is majority europeana, New caledonia is majority native Kanaky, followed by Europeans, and other minorities. Nevertheless, Like anywhere else in the world you have tension between the main groups. The word Kanak or Kanaky is what the native Melanesiana called themselves, it is similar to the word Bantu, which means the people. Other than the political tension in New Caledonia, I heard the place is pretty nice, and the locals native and others are quite friendly. Lets meet the people of New Caledonia or native Kanak.

indigeous Kanak

kanak

indigeous kanak

indigeous Kanak

indigeous kanak

indigeous Kanak

Kanak

indigeous people of new caledonia

Kanak