THE AUSTRONIAN HOMELAND

By : Rabenjamina Francis

Melanesian / Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian Solidarity

Among the world's major ethnolinguistic groups, the Nusantarian family (also called "Malayo-Polynesian" or "Austrussian" by Western authors) undeniably occupied the largest geographical territory before the modern era.

From east to west, this vast territory covered the area from Rapa-nui (Easter Island) to Madagascar, approximately 60% of the Earth's circumference. From north to south, it included the island of Taiwan (Pekan, for the native Nusantarians), the archipelago of Hawaii (from "Hava-iki" or "Little Java", to recall the ancestral homeland of the Polynesians), and New Zealand. (Aotearoa in Maori language).

Beyond this heart, other areas were visited by Nusantarian navigators, including most of the Pacific Ocean (towards South America) and the Indonesian Ocean, as far as East Africa.[1]

Today, there are about 300 million Nusantarians. Their communities are traditionally present in 34 officially recognized countries in Southeast Asia (including Taiwan and Hainan where the Cam Utsat live), Oceania and the Indonesian Ocean.

In recent years, many authors have concluded that the Nusantarians originated from the present-day coastal area of eastern China (long before the rise of the Chinese Empire). [2]

Naturally, it was thanks to navigation, about 6,000 or 7,000 years ago, that our ancestors began to slowly occupy their historical territory. By doing so, they master an extraordinary navigation technique early.

Indeed, from the beginning of our era, we know from testimonies found in Chinese texts that the Nusantaries of Southeast Asia used ships (Chinese *b'ak, related to *bangkah of Melayu) capable of transporting hundreds of tons of goods and hundreds (see one a thousand ) of passengers. [3]

It is not surprising that in Oceania, large double canoes (waka or pahi, corresponding to the bagan and ancient bandung of Indonesia), although much less equipped in terms of tooling, were able to carry up to 500 people together. people. [4]

Following this common origin, the Nusantarian heritage is characterized by three affinities, namely linguistic, cultural and racial. Throughout the Nusantarian domain, basic vocabulary and many typological similarities are preserved in all languages, among which three major subsections can be distinguished: a) the archaic linguistic group of Taiwan; b) those of the Western Nusantarian world and Southeast Asian countries; Madagascar in the western part of Micronesia (Marianes, Guam and Belau/Palau islands); c) those in the eastern Nusantarian part, comprising all of Polynesia and most of Melanesia. [5]

The Nusantarian civilization is characterized by many common characteristics found in its social organization, technology, beliefs and artistic expressions. Finally, from anthropologically point of view, the majority of Nusantarians (except Melanesians) share the same human form, characterized by the "classic Melayu" model: whose skull is mesocephalous or moderately brachycephalous, brown skin color or sawo matang, wavy hair, eyes not or little cracked etc [6]

Given these elements, it is appropriate to reevaluate the status and importance of Madagascar in the Nusantarian domain

Reference:

[1] Cf. BELLWOOD, Peter, Man's conquest of the Pacific. The prehistory of Southeast Asia and Oceania, Auckland: Collins, 1978. SLAMETMOULJANA. Origin Nation and Archipelago Language. Jakarta : Library, 1975. ( Return to the text )

[2] Among others, cf. LING, Shun-sheng. A study of raft, swing, double and bridge canoes from ancient China, the Pacific and Indian oceans. Taipei: Institute of Ethnology, 1970. BELLWOOD , Peter . Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian archipelago. Sydney: Academic Press, 1985 and "A Hypothesis for Austronesian Origins", Asian Perspectives, XXXVI,1, 1984-1985: 107-117. BLUST, Robert. "The Austrian Homeland: A Linguistic Perspective", Asian Perspectives, XXXVI,1, 1984-1985: 45-67. REID, Lawrence A. "Benoît's Austro-Tai Hypothesis - An Evaluation", Asian Perspectives, XXXVI,1, 1984-1985: 19-34. ZHANG Guangzhi. "Archaeology of Southeast Coastal China and the Origin of Austrussian", Nanyang Minzu Kaogu, 1987, 1: 1-14. XING, Gongwan. "On the genealogical relationship between the Han language (Chinese) and the Austrian languages," Minzu Yuwen, 3, 1991: 1-14. ( Return to the text )

[3] MANGUIN, Pierre-Yves, "The Ship of Southeast Asia: A Historical Approach", Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, IX, 2, 1980: 266-276; "Sewn Planked Boats, Archaeological and Ethnographic papers, S. McGrail & E. Kentley, eds Oxford, 1985: 319-343 DORAN, Edwin Jr. Figure : Austrussian Canoe Origin, Texas A. & M. University press, 1981. ( Return to the text )

[4] HADDON, AC & HORNELL, James, Canoes of Oceania , Honolulu : P. Bishop Museum, 1975. LEWIS, David, We sailors. The ancient art of land research in the Pacific, Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1972. NEYRET, Jean. Ocean canoes, Paris: Museum of the Marine, 1976-1977. ( Return to the text )

[5] WORM, SA & HATTORI, Shiro, ed. Pacific Linguistics Atlas, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, 1981. KERAF, Gorys. Historical Comparative Linguistics, Jakarta : Gramedia, 1984. ( Return to the text )

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