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Mongoloid, and Caucasoid. There is  a claim that  the Oceania stretches  from the area
                                      around Southeast Asia, South Asia, that is from Malaysia to Hawaii and as far as the USA.
                                      There is no strong evidence of a change of the term Oceania to Melanesia.
                                         The history of Oceania in the following periods consisted of various activities and trade
                                      motivations of European people including various trips of the travelers. Among them were
                                      missionaries of the Catholic Church and the Protestant Zending. In 1788, Europeans settled
                                      in Australia, and since then the Oceania region has become important in the process of
                                      European settlement in Australia mainland. In the frame of anthropological linguistics and
                                      ethno-linguistics, Oceania as the final dominant destination can be seen in the perspective
                                      of Proto Austronesian language family. This is dealt with in the description in one of the
                                      following sections.


                                      Melanesian Anthropology
                                      Geographically, it is difficult to say with certainty the existence of Melanesia because,
                                      based on the cultural transmission, the Melanesian race has dispersed to various parts
                                                                             of the region. Specifically the Melanesian
                                                                             diaspora has  reached all regions of
                                                                             Indonesia  (especially Nusa  Tenggara,
                                                                             Maluku  and  Papua),  Solomon Islands,
                                                                             Vanuatu,  New  Caledonia,  Tuvalu,  the
                                                                             Bismarck Archipelago,  Admiralty  Island,
                                                                             Viji, Papua New  Guinea and  some of
                                                                             the surrounding  islands.  The following
                                                                             description will look in more detail about
                                                                             the origin of the Melanesian people.

                                      Origins of the Melanesian People
                                      There are varied opinions about the model and appearance of the Melanesian population.
                                      On the analysis and study of ethnogenesis and geological context, the Melanesian race
                                      is a fusion between the Negroid race and Australoid race. However there is a developing
                                      theory that Melanesia is a combination of (1) the Mongoloid race and Australoid race, also
                                      (2) a synergistic blend of the Asian race and Australasian race. From an ethnolinguistic
             Apenbayeren tradition of walking
             on hot stones, District of Biak-  point of view, the Melanesian population inherited the Austronesian languages and uses
             Papua (BPN)              the Malayo-Polynesian languages. The general opinion is that the Melanesian population




         300  Chapter 8





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