Glad to see someone mentioning the "New Zealand Maori aren't Aborigines, or vice versa" bit.
The Polynesians moved to the Pacific from Asia about 5000 years ago. The Aborigines settled Australia somewhere between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago. That's quite a big gap. There was no communication that I'm aware of between the two land masses before Europeans arrived in the area, either.
Lumping Polynesians and Aborigines together is even less accurate than lumping Polynesians in with indigenous Taiwanese, and possibly less accurate than grouping them with Native Americans.
no subject
Date: 15 May 2010 09:14 am (UTC)The Polynesians moved to the Pacific from Asia about 5000 years ago. The Aborigines settled Australia somewhere between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago. That's quite a big gap. There was no communication that I'm aware of between the two land masses before Europeans arrived in the area, either.
Lumping Polynesians and Aborigines together is even less accurate than lumping Polynesians in with indigenous Taiwanese, and possibly less accurate than grouping them with Native Americans.
There's a map on Wikipedia that gives some idea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map-of-human-migrations.jpg
What is 'Oceania' anyway? I've never been sure. I live in the South Pacific, but it's not a term we use.