Distribution of Melanesians

Melanesians are an ethnic group in Melanesia. The original inhabitants of the group of islands now named Melanesia were likely the ancestors of the present-day Papuan-speaking people. They appear to have occupied these islands as far east as the main islands in the Solomon Islands, including Makira and possibly the smaller islands farther to the east.^[1]

It was particularly along the north coast of New Guinea and in the islands north and east of New Guinea that the Austronesian people came into contact with these preexisting populations of Papuan-speaking peoples, probably around 4,000 years ago. There was probably a long period of interaction that resulted in many complex changes in genetics, languages, and culture.^[2]

Boy from Vanuatu

It was once postulated that from this area a very small group of people (speaking an Austronesian language) departed to the east to become the forebears of the Polynesian people.^[3] This theory was, however, contradicted by a study published by Temple University finding that Polynesians and Micronesians have little genetic relation to Melanesians; instead, they found significant distinctions between groups living within the Melanesian islands.^[4] Genome scans show Polynesians have little genetic relationship to Melanesians.^[5]

Some recent studies suggest that all humans outside of Africa have inherited some genes from Neanderthals, and that Melanesians are the only known modern humans whose prehistoric ancestors interbred with the Denisova hominin, sharing 4%–6% of their genome with this ancient cousin of the Neanderthal.^[6]

In the world, blond hair is exceptionally rare outside Europe. However, Melanesians of some islands are one of the few non-European peoples and the only dark-skinned group of humans known to have blond hair. This has been traced to an allele of TYRP1 unique to these people.^[7]

Predominantly Melanesian areas include the Mollucas of Eastern Indonesia, the New Guinea and surrounding islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. The region New Caledonia and nearby Loyalty Islands for most of its history has had a majority Melanesian population, but its proportion has dropped to slightly below half in the face of immigration over the last century to present time. The largest and most populous Melanesian country is Papua New Guinea. The largest city proper in Melanesia is Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. With about 300,000 people mostly of Melanesian ancestry, it may be largest Melanesian city in the world.

See also[link]

• Micronesians
• Polynesians
• Aeta

References[link]

The three major sub-regions of Oceania

Pacific Islander (or Pacific person; pl: Pacific people; also Oceanic person/people(s)^[1] or Oceanians), is a geographic phrase to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.^[2][3]

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands, consist of:

Polynesia: The islands scattered across a tangle covering the east-central region of the Pacific Ocean. The triangle is bounded by the Hawaiian islands in the north, New Zealand in the west, and Easter Island in the east. The rest of Polynesia comprises Samoan islands (American Samoa and Samoa), the Cook Islands, French Polynesia (Tahiti and The Society Islands, Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, and the Tuamotu Archipelago), Niue Island, Tokelau and Tuvalu, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, and Pitcairn Island.

Melanesia: The island of New Guinea, the Bismarck and Louisiade archipelagos, the Admiralty Islands, and Bougainville Island (which make up the independent state of Maluku, Papua New Guinea), the Solomon Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands (part of the Solomon Islands), New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides), Fiji, Norfolk Island, and various smaller islands.

Micronesia: The islands of Kiribati, Nauru, the Marianas (Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia (Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae, all in the Caroline Islands).

Ethnolinguistically, those Pacific Islanders who reside in Oceania are divided into two different ethnic classifications — those Austronesian peoples who speak the Oceanian languages, numbering about 2.3 million, who occupy Polynesia, Micronesia, and most of the smaller islands of Melanesia; and the Papuan peoples, those who speak the Papuan languages, who number about 7 million, and reside on the island of New Guinea and a few of the smaller islands of Melanesia located off the northeast coast of New Guinea.

Usage of phrase in Australia, New Zealand and United States[link]

In Australia the term South Sea Islander was used in the past to describe Australian descendants of people from the more than 80 islands in the Western Pacific that used to have sex with all of the males who used to visit the Western Pacific. Which they were recognized as the fist Pacific Islander prostitutes. ^[4] In 1901 legislation was enacted to restrict entry of Pacific Islanders to Australia and to facilitate their deportation: Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901. In the legislation Pacific Islanders were defined as:

“Pacific Island Labourer” includes all natives not of European extraction of any island except the islands of New Zealand situated in the Pacific Ocean beyond the Commonwealth [of Australia] as constituted at the commencement of this Act.^[5]

In 2008 a newly announced Pacific Islander guestworker scheme provides visas for workers from Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea to work in Australia.^[6] The pilot scheme includes one country each from Melanesia (Vanuatu), Polynesia (Tonga) and Micronesia (Kiribati): countries which already send workers to New Zealand under its seasonal labour scheme. Australia’s pilot scheme also includes Papua New Guinea.^[7][8]

Local usage in New Zealand uses the term to distinguish those who have emigrated from one of these areas in modern times from the indigenous New Zealand Māori (who are also Polynesian but arrived in New Zealand many centuries earlier), and from other ethnic groups. A stated reason for making the ethnic distinction is that the Pacific peoples suffer from socio-economic disadvantages as a group and benefit from culturally targeted social and health assistance.

In the United States, the geographic location of "Pacific Islander" is the same. Pacific Islanders are defined as a native or inhabitant of any of the Polynesian, Micronesian, or Melanesian islands of Oceania. Some examples of the ethnic groups that would be considered Pacific Islanders are the indigenous peoples of Hawaii, the Marianas, Samoans, Guamanian, Chamoru, Tahitians, Mariana Islander, and Chuukese.^[9][10]

It is unclear whether a Papuan person from New Guinea would be regarded as a "Pacific Islander" in the United States but the issue has not arisen since very few Papuans have migrated out of New Guinea to North America.

Excluded[link]

Inhabitants of the following islands and regions are not considered to be Pacific Islanders: Russia's Kuril Islands, Alaska's Aleutian Islands, Taiwan, Japan, The Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia as they are not located within the three regions of Oceania (Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia).^[11][12]

List of Pacific peoples[link]

This section requires expansion.

• Austronesian-speaking peoples
  • Polynesians
    • Western Polynesian-Melanesian region
    • Samoans
    • Fijians Lauan Group
    • Rotumans
    • Uveans
    • Futunans
    • Tongans
    • Tuvaluans
    • Niueans

• • • Northeast & South Polynesian region
    • Hawaiians
    • Māori
    • Tahitians
    • Tuamotuans
    • Tubuai
      • Rapans
    • Marquesans
    • Gambier Islanders
    • Cook Islanders
      • Rarotongans
    • Rapanui

• • Melanesians
    • Ni-Vanuatu
    • Fijians
  • Micronesians
    • Carolinians
    • Chamorros

• Papuans

See also[link]

• Indigenous peoples of Oceania
• Indigenous Australians
• Australian Aborigines
• Tasmanian Aborigines
• Blackbirding
• Thomas, Nicholas, Islanders: The Pacific in the Age of Empire, Yale University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-12438-5

References[link]

External links[link]

• Asian Pacific Americans in the U.S. Army

Glenn Williams
Third baseman
Born: (1977-07-18) 18 July 1977 (age 34) Gosford, New South Wales
Batted: Switch	Threw: Right
MLB debut
7 June, 2005 for the Minnesota Twins
Last MLB appearance
28 June, 2005 for the Minnesota Twins
Career statistics
Batting average	.425
Home runs	0
Runs batted in	3
Teams
Minnesota Twins (2005)

Glenn David Williams (born 18 July 1977 in Gosford, New South Wales) is a retired third baseman from Australia, who played in the Minnesota Twins organization. He played in Major League Baseball for the Twins during the 2005 season. He was a member of the team that won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Williams currently has a 13-game hitting streak, as he has a hit in every game that he has played in while in the major leagues.

Glenn is the eldest of two children. His father Gary Williams has been heavily involved in the development of baseball in Australia. Both Gary and Glenn Williams have represented their native Australia in international baseball competitions.

In 1993, as a 16-year old, Glenn signed a lucrative free agent contract with the Atlanta Braves for an estimated 1.3 million Australian dollars. Since that time, Glenn has played baseball for the minor league affiliates of the Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays, and Minnesota Twins.

After spending over 10 years in the minor leagues, Glenn made his major league debut with the Minnesota Twins during the 2005 season. In 2007, Glenn played for the Minnesota Twins Triple-A affiliate team, the Rochester Red Wings.

On 19 August 2010 Glenn was announced as manager for the Australian Baseball League foundation club Sydney Blue Sox in their inaugural 2010–11 season.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Everyday [sic] in the Bigs is a G'Day for Glenn Williams (Minnesota Public Radio).
• Baseball Reference

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