Reflection Paper on  The Austronesian Expansion

Reflection Paper on  The Austronesian Expansion

            This world map, which covers about ¾ of the surface of our planet, shows us the extent of what is one of the unknown expansions of humanity: that of the Austronesian peoples. Like the Indo-European peoples that came to populate Europe, the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent, these were processes triggered by population growth, but prolonged growth, which was gradually and dragged by millennia. As part of prehistory, everything that is thought to be known about these processes at the moment results from the work of archeology, linguistic investigations, and, more recently, genetics.
One of the biggest surprises of the Austronesian expansion is the location of its cradle. Although there are other theories – there are always them under these circumstances – the predominant one places the origin of the Austronesian peoples on the eastern shores of Taiwan. There is no way to deceive the irony: the island is now mostly populated by Chinese (98%). It constitutes, as a Republic of China and as an expression of the refusal to accept communist supremacy on the mainland (the People’s Republic of China ), one of the last manifestations of the Cold War. But it is its largely ignored Aboriginal population (2%) that is the repository of a saga that, which began some 5,000 years ago, now encompasses about 400 million people.

In contrast to the Indo-Europeans on the map above, the expansion of the Austronesian peoples was predominantly maritime. It extended into periods that were already historical in other parts of the world: their arrival in Madagascar will already be contemporary with the Roman Empire, and arrival in New Zealand will coincide with our Crusade season. The expansion was initially made for the Philippine and Indonesian archipelagos. They were once populated by former immigrants, darker-hued peoples, who would be related to the current Aboriginal of Australia and the Papua of New Guinea. Only then did the expansion proceed with the colonization of hitherto unpopulated islands.
So far, we have examined the expansion of South Islanders through Indonesia to the coast of New Guinea and tropical Southeast Asia. In Chapter 19, we will also investigate their development across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar. In Chapter 15, we have seen unfavorable ecological conditions preventing South Islanders from taking root in northern and western Australia. The day when this expansion regained its momentum was when Lapita potters set sail: they entered the Pacific Ocean east of the Solomon Islands and came to an island world that no one had visited before. Lapita pottery shards around 1200 BC, trinity pigs, chickens, and dogs, as well as other common archaeological signs about South Islanders, appeared in Fiji and Samoa more than a thousand miles east of the Solomon Islands.

The African continent is often treated as if there are no borders and significant differences within it. About a quarter of the world’s spoken languages ​​are in Africa. Among the six major ethnic groups of humanity, only Australian Aborigines have no established roots on the continent – all five other groups (Asian, Black, Coissan, White, and Pygmy). have been in Africa for over a thousand years.

Interestingly, observing the people of Madagascar, it is easy to find Asian features on the faces of part of the population. Also, Malagasy (the official language of the country) is still very similar to the Ma’aniana language, spoken on the island of Borneo, Indonesia.

 

So how did blacks become the majority in Africa?  Pygmies and Coissans, being nomadic-style hunters, did not grow at the same rate, had no established territories, and were subdued to blacks. Whites were also farmers and livestock, but they were restricted to the strip of the northern Sahara continent. The desert and mountains near the Red Sea acted as a kind of wall, preventing whites from going south and blacks from heading north. The Asians, though they had arrived in Madagascar long before the Europeans, arrived too late for a significant expansion into the continent. The region was already mostly occupied by blacks. The purpose of this text is not to show the differences between groups.  We cannot say that one is better than the other no to stereotype such complex societies. After all, all the groups have subdivisions, and they got mixed up as they met. The goal here is to talk about the diversity of Africa. Show that it makes no sense to talk about the continent if we do not specify which part of it we are focusing.

There are no other continent groups as many ethnic groups as Africa.

Pizzaro

When Almagro returned to Panama, Panama’s Overseer had been replaced by Rios. The new Overseer did not trust Pizarro’s bold plans. He detained Almagro and sent an ambassador to recall Pizarro and force him to give up his conquest. In despair, Pizarro pulled out his sword and drew a line on the beach sand and said to his companion loudly. With his sword, Pizarro pointed to Peru in the south: “Here is willing to go to Peru to make a fortune!” And to Panama in the north: “He is willing to go back to the poor in Panama!” The people decided to follow Pizarro and go south to explore together. In history, they were called “Thirteen Warriors of Calvary.”

In a historical sense, the early European colonists represented by the “Thirteen Warriors of Galileo” and Pizarro are synonymous with European colonial expeditions and unwilling mediocrity in the era of great sailing.  In 1529, with the help of his friend Cortes, Pizarro’s colonial conquest was supported by the Spanish KingKing. King Charles V of Spain authorized him to conquer Peru for Spain and provided him with sufficient funds for the expedition. He was appointed as the Overseer, Chief Executive, and lifetime Adrian Tado of the colony south of Guayaquil Bay, earning the wealth of the new colony.
Pizarro seized the opportunity to force the troops to attack the Incas, who had lowered their weapons. The battle, which might as well be described as a massacre, lasted only half an hour. The Spaniard did not lose a single soldier. Only Pizarro himself sustained minor injuries while protecting Atahualpaben. Attavalpaben was captured. Pizarro’s strategy succeeded. The Inca Empire practiced centralized power, with all power concentrated in the Inca, the KingKing. Inca is the representative of God. When Inca became a prisoner of war, the Indian empire had virtually disintegrated. To obtain freedom, Atahualpa paid Pisaro $ 28 million in gold and silver treasures as a ransom. As a result, Pissar executed him a few months later.
Pizarro commanded 180 people to conquer an empire with a population of about 6 million, which is the most fantastic thing in military history. Cortez used 600 people to conquer an empire of 15 million people. Although this kind of war is not a war in the purely military sense, can Alexander the Great or Napoleon accomplish the performance of Pizarro? Mike Hart expressed doubt. The two of them may not be as relaxed as Pizarro when faced with such tremendous pressure!
Some people may ask, is it because the Spanish firearms gave Pizarro a tactical advantage? I don’t think so. Most Indians were killed by conventional weapons such as swords and knives. Others were killed by bacteria and viruses that were not immune to the Inca brought by European colonists. Although the Spaniards had a small number of horses and firearms, it was clear that they were disadvantaged in the military. Command and determination, not weapons, were the root cause of the Spaniard’s victory. Of course, Pizarro had good luck, but as the saying goes

Some writers have condemned Pizarro as a bold villain. But which villain can influence history? The empire he overthrew covered most of contemporary Peru and Ecuador, northern Chile, and parts of Bolivia. These regions have larger populations than the rest of South America combined. After the demise of the Inca Empire, entire South America could no longer resist European rule. Millions of Indians live in South America, but their regime has never been restored. He set one of the highest standards of conquering and establishing empires in spite of being surrounded by enemies.