Melanesia
To the north and east of Australia lie the islands known as
Melanesia. These islands form one of the most culturally
complex regions of the entire world, with 1,293 languages spoken
across the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and the island
of New Guinea (politically divided into Indonesia’s West Papua
Province and the nation of Papua New Guinea). It is also a region
of great antiquity. New Guinea has been settled for
around 45,000 years, the Solomon Islands for 35,000 years, and
Vanuatu and New Caledonia for about 4,000.
Throughout Melanesia, people lived in small scale societies
often without strong leadership systems. Instead, communities
were bound by ties of family and by complex networks of trade and
exchange. Trade routes could link distant communities, and
trading canoe voyages covered extensive distances. The daily
round of food gardening, hunting, and in coastal areas, of fishing,
were enriched by many rituals, often involving the production of
remarkable objects such as the famous malangan carvings of
New Ireland, and body decorations. In general Melanesians do
not worship gods, but acknowledge the spirits and other beings
sharing the landscape with them, and their ancestors.
Europeans first passed by these islands in the
late sixteenth century, but sustained contact only began in
the mid-nineteenth century. The British Museum collections
date back to some of the earliest voyages in this later period of
contact. The Museum continues to collect, adding objects which
reflect the contemporary development of the three independent
nations and two dependant colonies now in the region.
Image caption: Mask
From New Caledonia, Melanesia, possibly 19th or early 20th century
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