Settlement of the insular Southeast Asia

First inhabitants

It is thought that the first inhabitants of the Southeast Asia are the ancestors of populations which one indicates under the general name of Négritos and who gather in particular:

the Aeta of the Filipino ,
the Andamanais autochtones,
Mani of Thailand,
the Semang of the Malayan Peninsula.

This name, which means " small Noir" in Spanish, was given by the first Spanish visitors of Philippines, who thought that these populations came from Africa because of their physical appearance and their small size.

In addition, one found, in the Grande Cave of Niah to the Sarawak a human cranium which one went back to 40.000 years. However, the bond with the ancestors of Négritos was not established.

One tried to reconstitute large the human migrations of prehistory starting from DNA mitochondrial.

The Papous

Approximately 21.000 years ago, the New Guinea was connected to the Australia, forming the continental mass called " Sahul ". Australia had been populated at least 40.000 years ago by migrations from the current continent of Asia. These migrations had been possible because at the time, the sea level was lower than currently, and the Australian continent was then connected to the continent of Asia.

Migrations could also have taken place directly of Asia towards New Guinea and the the Solomon Islands.

There are 5.000 to 6.000 years, the sea level went up to reach the current location, cutting these populations of the continent of Asia and preventing other migrations for a certain time.

The Austronésiens

As of 1706, the philologist Dutch Hadrian Reland had underlined the resemblances between the Malayan, the Malgache and the spoken language with Futuna in the Pacifique (starting from the glossary collected in 1616 by the navigator Jacob the Mayor in Futuna).

The existence of a linguistic family which extends from Madagascar in the west in the Pacific Islands in the east is definitively established by Lorenzo Hervás there Panduro in 1784 ( Catalogo delle Lingue ).

In 1834, this family, extended to the Easter Island, is baptized " Austronesian " by the linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (brother of the navigator Alexander von Humboldt).

One calls from now on this family, Langues austronésiennes. These languages are spoken with Taiwan, in Southeast Asia, in the Pacific Ocean and with Madagascar. Their hearth of origin seems to be Taiwan.

It has 8.000 years are necessary of the " revolutions néolithiques" in the center and the south of current China, in the basins of the rivers Yang-tsé and Hoang-Ho. The men start to cultivate the millet and the Riz. The ancestors of Austronésiens lived probably the plains of the littoral of the China of the South. The ancestors of the Tai-kadai, the Austroasiatiques and the Sino-Tibetans lived the hills and piémonts rather. Linguists try to reconstitute a common proto-language austronésienne-tai kadai on the basis of common vocabulary between the two families, in particular in the fields of agriculture and the breeding. One in particular identified common words for the flooded field, rice, the taro, the Canne with sugar, the cattle, the Buffle, the axe, the Pirog.

There is 5 000 years, of the inhabitants of the littoral start to cross the strait to settle in Taiwan. It has approximately 4.000 years, of the migrations are necessary of Taiwan towards the Filipino . New migrations start soon of Philippines towards Célèbes and Timor and from there, the other islands of the archipelago Indonesia N. 3.500 years ago, another movement carries out Filipino in New Guinea and beyond that, the islands of the Pacifique. The Austronésiens are undoubtedly the first large navigators of the history of humanity.

The reasons which pushed the ancestors of Austronésiens to leave the continent for Taiwan and later, to start from the latter for Philippines and beyond that, the Pacific Islands on the one hand and the archipelago indonésien on the other hand, is still object of speculation. Archeology is insufficient to reconstitute their migrations. It is then necessary to call upon linguistics. Thus, starting from the current distribution of the languages austronésiennes and by studying what is called their phyletic genesis , one is prvenu to reconstitute a route of the migrations of these groups.

At all events, an undeniable feature of the populations austronésiennes is their capacity to be adapted to contrasted ecological contexts, as testify diversity to it to the environments in which they were established. H. Forester and D. Guillaud emit a postulate, namely that " differentiation is an intrinsic characteristic of the group of Austronésiens" .

The economic priorities of Austronésiens seem to have been the occupation of coastal areas. After having migrated towards Philippines 4.000 years ago, a separation takes place. Groups start to migrate towards Célèbes and Timor. Then, they disperse in the archipelago indonésien.

The local conditions seem more favorable to the culture of the millet. Austronésiens " oublient" thus culture of the rice which they practiced on the Chinese littoral. At the beginning of the Christian era, one knows in India the island of Java under the name of Yavadvipa because of sound millet ( yava ). A " retour" with rice will be possible through a redomestication of this plant.

The study of the organization socio-policy of various current populations austronésiennes reveals a structuring around chalk-linings going down from a character founder which train clans related to a territory and produce a hereditary superstructure starting from a chief, the datu (K) . One notes a close link between social organization and space expression.

One cannot prevent oneself from finding a paradox between the origins of southernmost China, with his country sedentary companies and their complex and hierarchical social systems, and the phenomenon.

It seems that a constant which controls the operation of the companies austronésiennes is the opposition between the elder one of the clan, which holds the legitimacy of the capacity and guarantees the perpetuation of the social order, and the junior, which is found in a position of protestor of the authority. The myths of foundation often refer to a conflict elder-junior. The names of the heroes founders often comprise the word bungsu or mweawu , which means junior.

An explanation of this propensity of Austronésiens to migrate always further could thus be explained by the decision of a group to follow a junior entered in conflict with his elder chief by clan.

However, biology does not seem to indicate that human migrations systematically accompanied these cultural diffusions. A study on the variation of the Chromosome Y carried out by a group of biologists of the United States, from Italy, United Kingdom and of Taiwan concludes with a paternal heritage in the majority from the inhabitants from Indonesia and Oceania coming from populations established in the area since the Pléistocène (i.e. there is more than 10.000 years Before the present, therefore before with the migrations austronésiennes). This study in addition shows a genetic contribution at Indonésiens coming from the north (Philippines and Taiwan) associated with populations of farmers, therefore dating from the Neolithic . According to this study, all occurs as if the inhabitants of Oceania had adopted with the Neolithic era the language and the techniques of populations originating in Philippines without that resulting in the establishment of those in the area. On the other hand, of the populations come from north would have been established in Indonesia, undoubtedly less densément populated with the Neolithic era.

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