Page 93 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

flattish, the brows very prominent; the nose is large, rather arched and high, the base
thick, the nostrils broad…” These features were different from people in the western part
of archipelago who he noted as having faces which were “a little broad, and inclined to
be flat; the forehead is rather rounded, the brows low, the eyes black and very slightly, if
at all, oblique; the nose is rather small, not prominent, but straight and well-shaped, the
apex a little rounded, the nostrils broad and slightly exposed; the cheek-bones are rather
prominent, the mouth large, the lips broad and well cut, but not protruding, the chin round
and well-formed.”
Similarly, the two groups have marked differences in their languages. Populations in
the west are speakers of languages in the Austronesian family and those in the east of the
Papuan family. The term Melanesia was initially used by a French explorer, Jules Dumont
d’Urville (1790-1842) to identify people with dark skin inhabiting the western Pacific.
Therefore, Melanesia was first used to refer to a geographical zone. This Melanesian
region was comprised of many islands stretching from New Guinea to the east, including
the Bismarck archipelago, the Solomon islands and Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, and
Australia. These areas were eventually referred to as Oceania by some scholars. The
western Pacific was called Near Oceania, while the eastern Pacific was called Remote
Oceania (Kayser, 2010). The archipelagic cluster is now coincidental with the territories
of a number of countries including Fiji, Indonesia (East Nusa Tenggara, the Moluccas,
Papua), Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, East Timor,
and Samoa. These countries joined the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
Although Melanesia was initially a geographical term coined by d’Urville, it was racially

motivated in that it grouped people according to the color of their skin. Strangely, it has
come to be accepted and widely used by people of the MSG countries. The Melanesian
population is indeed distict from the other -nesians (Austronesian, Polynesian,
Micronesian) to some extent. Biological characteristics of populations in the Melanesian
region are thought to be different, in particular with regard to differences of ABO blood
type frequency in Java and Papuan populations. Blood type is one of the classic genetic
markers along with red blood cell protein markers such as Gm, Gc, Transferrin, and Diego.
Cavalli-Sforza et al. (1994) concluded that populations in the Melanesian region have at
least eight different blood type alleles when compared to the other -nesians. However,

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