Thoughts on Land and Sea Peoples in Southeast Asia and Their Possible Relationships To Initial Settlement of Micronesia

Solheim, Wilhelm G. II (1990). "Thoughts on Land and Sea Peoples in Southeast Asia and Their Possible Relationships To Initial Settlement of Micronesia". Micronesica. Mangilao, GU: University of Guam (Suppl. 2): 241–246. ISSN 2374-801X.

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Abstract: Solheim advances the Nusantao hypothesis in relation to Micronesian settlement, proposing that the primary settlers of Micronesia were maritime-oriented peoples from Island Southeast Asia, especially the Philippines and eastern Indonesia, who combined seafaring, fishing, trade, and agriculture; reviews alternative hypotheses that trace Micronesian settlement from Japan, Melanesia, Hawaii, or the Philippines alone; argues that archaeological indicators such as early pottery traditions, paddle-and-anvil manufacture, shell adzes, and related Southeast Asian cultural traits point to deep connections between western Micronesia and insular Southeast Asia; defines the Nusantao as a long-lived mobile maritime network rather than a single bounded ethnic group; supports the argument with ethnographic and historical parallels ranging from sea nomads and Cham maritime communities to mixed farmer-sailor groups who alternated between land-based cultivation and long-distance voyaging; and concludes that early Micronesian colonists were best understood as adaptable hybrid maritime peoples who were at home both on land and sea and capable of establishing viable island settlements while maintaining broader interaction networks.