Oceania Research Paper

Oceania, or the Pacific region, was explored and colonized approximately 1000 years ago by Austronesian-speaking peoples. It is important to note that the Pacific Islands lend themselves to a study of the contrasts between tribes and states and the development of political scale cultures such as chiefdoms.

Oceania is divided into 3 ethnogeographic regions: Melanesia, or the "black islands", Polynesia, or the "many islands", and Micronesia, or the "tiny islands". Predictably, Europeans found it easier to deal with the Polynesians due to their lighter skin, as peoples from Melanesia were discriminated against because of their dark skin and almost African appearance.

The sequence of colonization starting with Taiwan and the Philippines and then along costal New Guinea is supported by the discovery of a distinctive style of pottery known as Lapita. Also noteworthy, is that canoes and sophisticated navigation techniques like memorizing sequences of stars made discovery and navigation possible, and were vital to the colonization of the Pacific Islands.

Those who settled in the Pacific region used two systems for subsistence – fishing and gathering, and gardening. Trees, such as coconut, provide
An intentional imperial expansion quadrupled Hawaii's population. Chiefs held a religious position as hereditary representatives of ancestral deities responsible for the land, and controlled natural land resources as well as the people. Hawaii's chiefs followed the Polynesian structure of rule. However, Hawaiian chief Kamehameha was effectively a king, and created a kingdom through expansion. Hawaii's elite also created a religious system to achieve their interests. The Kumulipo creation myth and the Makahiki ritual are most noteworthy. The Kumulipo included sixteen genealogic charts used by rulers to confirm their power, and it was chanted to assert the new high chief and his connection with the