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Melanesia, an introduction. To the north and east of Australia lie the islands known as Melanesia. These islands form one of the most culturally complex regions of the entire world, with 1,293 languages spoken across the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and the island of New Guinea (politically divided into Indonesia’s West Papua ...
Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian language family (especially ones in the Oceanic branch) or one of the many unrelated families of Papuan languages .
Melanesia (from Greek, meaning "black islands") is a region extending from the western side of the eastern Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and northeast of Australia. It consists of 2,000 islands with a total land area of about 386,000 square miles (one million square kilometers), and is home to about 12 million people.
Dec 6, 2023 · Melanesia, an introduction. To the north and east of Australia lie the islands known as Melanesia. These islands form one of the most culturally complex regions of the entire world, with 1,293 languages spoken across the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and the island of New Guinea (politically divided into Indonesia’s West Papua ...
Melanesia is a tropical region and its inhabitants experience the hardships of life in an environment where rain, heat, and mosquitoes are ever-present. Malaria is endemic to the region and most local inhabitants of the low-lying areas are afflicted with this debilitating disease.
Melanesia, 1800–1900 A.D. Timeline. Overview. By 1800, European explorers. had been gradually encountering and charting the islands of Melanesia for more than two centuries and the Spanish had made a brief and unsuccessful attempt to establish a colony in the. Solomon Islands. However, it is not until the nineteenth century that broader ...
Melanesian culture - Art, Rituals, Beliefs: Melanesian art is highly varied. In much of highland New Guinea, the body itself becomes a focus for art; face and body painting, wigs and headdresses, and elaborate costumes are all used. In lowland New Guinea, ebullient art traditions, like the paintings and carvings by such Sepik peoples as Iatmul and Abelam, have become widely known.
