Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: March 29, 2022
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
I was motivated to search for information about Micronesia after looking up the meaning of the abbreviation "AAPI" (Asian American Pacific Islanders"). I looked up that abbreviation after reading recent newspaper articles about the huge rise in violent assaults on AAPi in the United States. Here's a link to a pancocojams post that I wrote about that topic:
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/03/article-excerpt-tweets-about-three.html "Article Excerpt & Tweets About Three Asian Spas Targeted & Eight People Killed In Atlanta, Georgia (March 16, 2021)" .
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WHAT DOES "AAPI MEAN?
"AAPi" is an abbreviation for "Asian Americans And Pacific Islanders".
Here's an excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Americans
"Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. The term refers to a panethnic group in the United States with origins from East Asia, Indian subcontinent, or Southeast Asia, as defined by the United States Census Bureau.[4] This includes people who indicate their race(s) on the census as "Asian" or reported entries such as "Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Other Asian".[5] In modern times, this term excludes Americans with ethnic origins in other parts of Asia, such as West Asia, who are now considered Middle Eastern Americans and thus, are classified as "White Americans".[6][7] In 2018, Asian Americans comprised 5.4% of the U.S. population; including multiracial Asian Americans, that percentage increases to 6.5%.[8]"...
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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islander#:~:text=Pacific%20Islanders%2C%20Pasifika%2C%20or%20Pasefika,%2C%20Melanesia%2C%20and%20Polynesia).
"Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, or Pasefika, are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. It is a geographic and ethnic/racial term to describe the inhabitants and diaspora of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania (Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia). It is also sometimes used to describe inhabitants of the Pacific islands (i.e. citizens of Pacific states who are of Asian and European descent who call the Pacific their home).
The Pacific islands consist of three main regions:
Polynesia
The islands are scattered across a triangle covering the
east-central region of the Pacific Ocean. The triangle is bound by the Hawaiian
Islands in the north, New Zealand in the west, and Easter Island in the east.
The rest of Polynesia includes the Samoan islands (American Samoa and Western
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, Rotuma Island, Pitcairn Island,
Nukuoro, and Kapingamarangi.
Melanesia
The island of New Guinea, the Bismarck and Louisiade
archipelagos, the Admiralty Islands, Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea,
Western New Guinea (part of Indonesia), Aru Islands, Kei Islands, 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
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).
INFORMATION ABOUT MICRONESIA
"About the Federated States of Micronesia
Geography
The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is a grouping of 607 small islands in the Western Pacific about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, lying just above the Equator. Generally speaking, the FSM comprises what is known as the Western and Eastern Caroline Islands.
While the country's total land area amounts to only 270.8 square miles, it occupies more than one million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, and ranges 1,700 miles from West (Yap) to East (Kosrae) . Each of the four States centers around one or more "high islands," and all but Kosrae include numerous atolls.
Yap State is made up of 4 large islands, 7 small islands and 134 atolls, with a total land area of 45.6 square miles. Chuuk State has a total land area of 49.2 square miles and includes seven major island groups. Pohnpei State has 133.4 square miles of land area, of which 130 is accounted for by Pohnpei island, the largest in FSM. Kosrae is essentially one high island of 42.3 square miles.
[…]
Language
English is the official language of the government and of commerce.
Eight major indigenous languages spoken: Yapese, Ulithian, Woleaians, Chuukese, Pohnpeians, Kosraeans, Nukuoro, Kapingamarangi.
Many elderly people are fluent in Japanese.
[…]
People
The people of the FSM are classified as Micronesians, although some inhabitants of Pohnpei State are of Polynesian origin. They are actually a heterogeneous mixture with different customs and traditions bound together by recent history and common aspiration.
The cultural diversity is typified by the existence of eight major indigenous languages, although English remains the official language of commerce. The cultural similarities are indicated by the importance of traditional extended family and clan systems found on each island.
Each of the State has developed unique cultural characteristics which are important to the potential outsiders especially those interested in visiting or investing in the islands. In Kosrae State, the Congregational Church plays an extremely important role in everyday life while in Chuuk, clan relationships remain an important factor. Yap continues as the most traditional society in the FSM with a strong caste system.
Over the last 15 years Pohnpei has rapidly developed as the most westernized state in the nation. This results in large part because the national government is located here. At the same time, traditional leadership continues to play an important role.
Over much of the last 40 years, the growth rate of population in the FSM has exceeded 3% per annum and the current rate of national increase remains high. However, since the Compact of Free Association was signed out-migration of about 2% of the population occurs each year, effectively lowering the growth rate to about 1%.
The population structure is heavily weighted in favor of the youth, and it is expected that the 15-24 age group will account for 50% of the population increase in this decade.
Culture
The people of the FSM are culturally and linguistically Micronesian, with a small number of Polynesians living primarily on Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi atolls of Pohnpei State. The influence of European and Japanese contacts is also seen.
It can be said that each of the four States exhibits its own distinct culture and tradition, but there are also common cultural and economic bonds that are centuries old. For example, cultural similarities are evidenced in the importance of the traditional extended family and clan systems found on each island.
Although united as a country, the people are actually a heterogeneous mixture with different customs and traditions bound together by recent history and common aspirations. The cultural diversity is typified by the existence of eight major indigenous languages, and its peoples continue to maintain strong traditions, folklore and legends.
The four states of the FSM are separated by large expanses of water. Prior to Western contact, this isolation led to the development of unique traditions, customs and language on each of the islands.
English is the official language, and there are eight major indigenous languages of the Malayo-Polynesian linguistic family spoken in the FSM: Yapese, Ulithian, Woleaian, Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Kosraean, Nukuoro, and Kapingamarangi.
There is a rich oral history. Part of this history is a unique musical heritage. The traditional music is carried forward from generation to generation, although upon tuning into the local radio station the visitor is far more likely to hear the distinctive sounds of Micronesian pop music, which has also developed its own character from state to state. Influenced obviously by traditional music, the FSM's pop music also draws from influences as diverse as American country and western, reggae, and modern europop.”…
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INFORMATION ABOUT MELANESIA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanesians
"Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants
of Melanesia, in a wide area from Maluku Islands and New Guinea to as far east
as the islands of Vanuatu and Fiji. Most speak either one of the many languages
of the Austronesian language family, especially ones in the Oceanic branch, or
from one of the many unrelated families of Papuan languages. Other languages
are the several creoles of the region, such as Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, Solomon
Islands Pijin, Bislama, and Papuan Malay.[1]
[...]
a 2008 study, which was based on genome scans and evaluation
of more than 800 genetic markers among a wide variety of Pacific peoples... found that neither Polynesians nor Micronesians have much genetic relation to
Melanesians. Both groups are strongly related genetically to East Asians,
particularly Taiwanese aborigines.[4] It appeared that, having developed their
sailing outrigger canoes, the ancestors of the Polynesians migrated from East
Asia, moved through the Melanesian area quickly on their way, and kept going to
eastern areas, where they settled. They left little genetic evidence in
Melanesia, "and only intermixed to a very modest degree with the
indigenous populations there".[7] Nevertheless, the study still found a
small Austronesian genetic signature (below 20%) in less than half of the
Melanesian groups who speak Austronesian languages, and which was entirely
absent in the Papuan-speaking groups.[4][7]
The study found a high rate of genetic differentiation and diversity among the groups living within the Melanesian islands, with the peoples not only distinguished between the islands, but also by the languages, topography, and size of an island. Such diversity developed over the tens of thousands of years since initial settlement, as well as after the more recent arrival of Polynesian ancestors at the islands. Papuan-speaking groups in particular were found to be the most differentiated, while Austronesian-speaking groups along the coastlines were more intermixed.[4][7]
[...]
Melanesians of some islands are one of the few non-European
peoples, and the only dark-skinned group of people outside Australia, known to
have blond hair. The blonde trait developed via the TYRP1 gene, which is not
the same gene that causes blondness in European blonds.[10]
History of classification
Early European explorers noted the physical differences
among groups of Pacific Islanders. In 1756 Charles de Brosses theorized that
there was an 'old black race' in the Pacific who were conquered or defeated by
the peoples of what is now called Polynesia, whom he distinguished as having
lighter skin.[11]:189–190 By 1825 Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent developed
a more elaborate, 15-race model of human diversity.[12] He described the
inhabitants of modern-day Melanesia as Mélaniens, a distinct racial group from
the Australian and Neptunian (i.e. Polynesian) races surrounding them.[11]:178
[...]
Melanesian areas of Oceania
The predominantly Melanesian areas of Oceania include parts
of the Maluku Islands (Moluccas) of Eastern Indonesia, East Nusa Tenggara, New
Guinea and surrounding islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. New
Caledonia and nearby Loyalty Islands for most of their history have had a
majority Melanesian population, but the proportion has dropped to 43% in the
face of modern immigration.[24]
The largest and most populous Melanesian country is Papua New Guinea. The largest city in Melanesia is Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea with about 318,000 people, mostly of Melanesian ancestry.[25]
In Australia, the total population of Torres Strait
Islanders, a Melanesian people, as of 30 June 2016, was about 38,700
identifying as being of Torres Strait Islander origin only, and 32,200 of both
Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander origin (a total of
70,900).[26]"...
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INFORMATION ABOUT POLYNESIA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesia
"Polynesia ... is a subregion
of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and
southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of
Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including
language relatedness, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs.[1] In
centuries past, they had a strong shared tradition of sailing and using stars
to navigate at night. The largest country in Polynesia is New Zealand.
The term Polynésie was first used in 1756 by the French
writer Charles de Brosses, who originally applied it to all the islands of the
Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a narrower definition during
a lecture at the Geographical Society of Paris. By tradition, the islands
located in the southern Pacific have also often been called the South Sea
Islands,[2] and their inhabitants have been called South Sea Islanders. The
Hawaiian Islands have often been considered to be part of the South Sea Islands
because of their relative proximity to the southern Pacific islands, even
though they are in fact located in the North Pacific. Another term in use,
which avoids this inconsistency, is “the Polynesian Triangle” (from the shape
created by the layout of the islands in the Pacific Ocean). This term makes
clear that the grouping includes the Hawaiian Islands, which are located at the
northern vertex of the referenced “triangle.
[...]
Island groups
The following are the islands and island groups, either
nations or overseas territories of former colonial powers, that are of native
Polynesian culture or where archaeological evidence indicates Polynesian
settlement in the past.[3] Some islands of Polynesian origin are outside the
general triangle that geographically defines the region.
American Samoa - Unincorporated
and unorganized territory of the United States; self-governing under
supervision of the Office of Insular Affairs
Cook Islands - Self-governing state in free association
with New Zealand
Easter Island - Province and special territory of Chile
French Polynesia - Overseas country of France
Hawaii - U.S. state
New Zealand - Sovereign state
Niue - Self-governing state in free association
with New Zealand
Norfolk Island - External Territory of Australia
Pitcairn Islands - British Overseas Territory
Rotuma Rotuma - Fijian
dependency
Samoa - Sovereign state
Tokelau - Dependent territory of New
Zealand
Tonga - Sovereign state
Tuvalu- Sovereign state
Wallis and Futuna - Overseas collectivity of France"
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