Pacific Islands populated in three waves of migration
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Researchers in Germany studied genomes from individuals in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tonga to understand how people first settled the islands of the South Pacific.
Geographers divide the Pacific Islands into “Near Oceania” and “Remote Oceania”, with Near Oceania experiencing earlier settlement during expansions out of Africa.
Remote Oceania was first populated around 4,000 years ago by people associated with the Lapita culture, who spread eastward from Asia through the Bismarck Archipelago, reaching Vanuatu around 3,000 years ago, Fiji 100 years later, and Tonga and Samoa 50 years after that. The study revealed three distinct waves of migration. The first involved the Lapita people, and subsequent mixing with populations from Papua New Guinea began around 2,500 years ago in Vanuatu.
A woman buried in Vanuatu 2,700 years ago carried only Papuan ancestry, making her the oldest individual with detectable Papuan genes. Later, around 1,900 to 1,700 years ago, this mixing continued with a second wave reaching Fiji, and another significant wave arrived between 1,300 and 900 years ago. Finally, people from Polynesia migrated westward to Vanuatu between 1,200 and 750 years ago, influencing the region’s genetic makeup.
Researchers note that while these migrations occurred, languages associated with the original Lapita culture remain prevalent in Fiji and Tonga, with Papuan languages largely confined to Near Oceania.
