What is Melanesia?

guajusi pulan and in this video I will explode the question what is melanesia from the context in which the category of melanesia was constructed to its geography melanesia is one of three regions in Oceania the other two being Polynesia and Micronesia melanesia is the oldest inhabited region in Oceania as parts of melanesia were settled by modern humans more than 40 000 years ago furthermore melanesia contains hundreds of ethnic groups and some 1400 languages belonging to several language families making melanesia the most culturally linguistically and ethnically diverse region in Oceania the word melanesia is derived from the Greek words Melos and nessos meaning black Islands this word was invented by Frenchman jeo Dumont durville In 1832 to be the name for the region of Oceania inhabited by generally darker skinned peoples historically the peoples of melanesia never referred to themselves as melanesians nor divided the ocean within the boundaries of melanesia the modern Geographic boundaries and the concept of melanesia was a product of European racial geography thus Scholars have heavily criticized melanesia because the category had little to do with physical geography language or culture but rather was based on a flawed racial theory that the Pacific was inhabited by two distinct human races yellow and a black race in 1832 durville linked the yellow race to Polynesia and Micronesia and linked the black race to melanesia Europeans considered and represented the darker skin inhabitants of melanesia as uncivilized Savages compared to the lighter-skinned inhabitants of Polynesia and Micronesia while the origin of melanesia was based off of racialized thinking from Europeans who grouped together Pacific Islanders primarily for these superficial traits of skin color irrespective of language and culture today melanesia has a positive meaning for the peoples of melanesia providing an identity that is confident and imbued with pride thus overcoming its racist Origins the peoples of melanesia have taken ownership of the word melanesia and see their future as melanesian so despite its race Isis Origins melanesia is now a term of empowerment and a focus of identity as Solomon Islander scholar tarcissus kabutalaka eloquently puts it since the 1970s melanesians have appropriated the term melanesia and used its for self-identification turning it from a derogatory term to a positive one a source of Pride and self-identification they have appropriated a colonial concept and deployed it as an instrument of empowerment now that we established the historical context in which melanesia was constructed let us go over its geography melanesia contains roughly 2 000 Islands or potentially hundreds more if the isolates and K's are included in the total number the combined land area of melanesia is roughly 366 000 square miles or 950 000 square kilometers the islands of melanesia are geographically diverse from the massive Continental island of New Guinea with a long chain of mountain ranges with Peaks that reach over 13 123 feet or 4 000 meters in height to smaller tolls a few square miles in land area and no more than a couple feet at their highest points melanesia consists of six main island groups New Guinea the Bismarck archipelago the Solomons vanuatsu New Caledonia and Fiji there are also numerous smaller archipelagos and outlying Islands such as the Raja ampat archipelago Shelton Islands Louisiana archipelago Torres Straits Islands Santa Cruz islands taku and rotuma to name a few from these main island groups along with these smaller archipelagos and outline Islands there are seven Island polities in total the four independent Island countries the independent state of Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands the Republic of Vanuatu and the Republic of Fiji there are two Island polities that are each a part of another country western New Guinea a region of the Republic of Indonesia and the Torres Straits Islands which is a parts of the states of the Commonwealth of Australia and lastly there was the French territory of New Caledonia located at the western part of melanesia is the island of New Guinea at 303 381 square miles or 785 753 square kilometers New Guinea is the second largest island in the world and the most populous island in Oceania with around 13 million people as of 2022 there are nearly 800 languages spoken here New Guinea comprises two political entities Western New Guinea and the independent state of Papua New Guinea Western New Guinea makes up the Western half of the island of New Guinea including the islands of rajampat's archipelago Charlton islands and Mafia atoll politically Western New Guinea consists of several autonomous provinces of the Republic of Indonesia the island country the independent state of Papua New Guinea makes up the rest of New Guinea as well as the Louisiana archipelago located in between New Guinea and Australia in the Torres Strait we find the Torres Straits Islands the Torres Strait Islands consists of some 274 Islands politically a few of the northernmost islands are part of the independent state of Papua New Guinea the rest of the Torres Straits islands are part of the Commonwealth of Australia as a region of Queensland States directly to the north of New Guinea is the Bismarck archipelago which consists of several Island groups with a surface area of around 19 200 square miles or 49 700 square kilometers the Bismarck archipelago is the second largest island group in melanesia politically these islands are part of the independent state of Papua New Guinea to the east is the Solomon Islands the Solomon Islands consist of more than 1 000 Islands ranging from low-lying Coral toes to mountainous High Islands these Solomon Islands consist of two political entities the autonomous region of Bougainville and Solomon Islands at the Northern end of these Solomons is the autonomous region of Bougainville which is politically an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea the island country of Solomon Islands make up the rest of the Solomons which include the outlined Santa Cruz Islands to the south of the Solomons we find Vanuatu Vanuatu contains around 83 Islands several which are volcanic all these islands from the island country the Republic of Vanuatu to the south of Vanuatu is New Caledonia which consists of three Island groups the Loyalty islands and the Chesterfield Islands the these islands form the French sui generis territory of New Caledonia at the easternmost part of melanesia is Fiji Fiji consists of numerous Island groups and outlying Islands the two largest islands are vitilavu and vanualevu and they cover around 87 percent of the total land mass of Fiji the northernmost island is rotuma and the southernmost island is Conway Reef all together these islands form the Republic of Fiji there are numerous outline Islands in melanesia that are inhabited by Polynesian ethnolinguistic communities known as Polynesian outliers there are about 16 Polynesian outliers in melanesia these include taku sikhayana chicopia and wesuvea to name a few all together the islands of New Guinea the Bismarck archipelago the Solomons Vanuatu New Caledonia Fiji and the many smaller archipelagos and outlying islands make up the region of melanesia if you liked and enjoy the video consider supporting me on patreon so I can continue to produce more pacific studies content like this video subscribe to the channel turn on all notifications follow me on social media and a special to-door sponsee to patreon supporters Boutique seduce masi for watching pulen and pulin has spoken esta

Channel: PulanSpeaks

Views: 39,150

Keywords: melanesia, micronesia, polynesia, papau, papuans, black, islanders, pacific, oceania, melanesians, pulanspeaks, solomons, fiji, fijians, education

Id: Z-4892MT2L8

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 30 2022