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compared strategic places for fishing throughout the Pacific region without making a
definitive map of the Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia or Australia (McCallum, 2004).
In connection with the discovery of the historical periodization of central locations
of the Melanesian region, McCallum drew up a few figures which he called the list of the
mission’s main activities in the Oceanic region:

Year Event
1668 Spanish Mission to ‘Guam’ (Ladrones, renamed Mariana;
1797 The first Tahiti Protestant
1804 (January 29) Apostolic Prefecture New Holland
1825 Apostolic Prefecture Sandwich Island (Hawaii) to Picpus Fathers
1830 (January 10) South Sea Islands Apostolic Prefecture
1833 (June 2) the Apostolic Vicariate of Eastern Oceania
1836 (January 10) the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Oceania
1842 (August 8) the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Oceania
1844 (July 16) the Apostolic Vicariate of Melanesia and Micronesia (disconnected
from yan Western Oceania)
1852 Vicariate of Melanesia and Micronesia transferred from Marist Fathers to PIM

The record of the Catholic Church is always remembered in a very special way, the
works of Jules Dumont d’Urville before his death in 1834, which made ethnographic records
about tribes in relation to the process of grouping the islands that can be distinguished
from Polynesia and Micronesia. The grouping pattern was limited to inhabitants who were
white, Polynesia and Micronesia, and black Melanesia, without going deeper to examine
carefully the dynamics of ethnographic overview of the livelihood and life characteristic of
the surrounding communities.

Understanding Origins
From the above description, it can be said, the initial concept of the European People about
Melanesia emerged slowly from mapping the Pacific Region as a whole based solely on
skin color. The thing that made the researchers pay attention to the Melanesian races were
dramatic physical differences of different groups of people in the Pacific islands. Charles de
Brosses’ theory in 1756 said that ‘the oldest black race’ in the Pacific region was conquered
by people of Polynesia, a race different from Melanesia. They were white. This suggests
that Polynesian originates from the cultural transmission of further development of the

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