C.
C. E. THE CULTURE OF THAT TIME, BASED ON ARCHAEOLOGY AND LINGUISTIC RECONSTRUCTION, IS ASSUMED TO HAVE HAD A BROAD INVENTORY OF CULTIVATED PLANTS INCLUDING TARO, YAMS, BANANA, SUGARCANE, BREADFRUIT, COCONUT, SAGO, AND RIC E. JUST AS IMPORTANT, THE CULTURE ALSO POSSESSED THE BASIC FOUNDATION FOR AN EFFECTIVE MARITIME ADAPTATION, INCLUDING OUTRIGGER CANOES AND A VARIETY OF FISHING TECHNIQUES THAT COULD BE EFFECTIVE FOR OVERSEAS VOYAGIN G. CONTRARY TO THE ARGUMENTS OF SOME THAT MUCH OF THE PACIFIC WAS SETTLED BY POLYNESIANS ACCIDENTALLY MAROONED AFTER BEING LOST AND ADRIFT, IT SEEMS REASONABLE THAT THIS FEAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY DELIBERATE COLONIZATION EXPEDITIONS THAT SET OUT FULLY STOCKED WITH FOOD AND DOMESTICATED PLANTS AND ANIMALS. DETAILED STUDIES OF THE WINDS AND CURRENTS USING COMPUTER SIMULATIONS SUGGEST THAT DRIFTING CANOES WOULD HAVE BEEN A MOST UNLIKELY MEANS OF COLONIZING THE PACIFI C. THESE EXPEDITIONS WERE LIKELY DRIVEN BY POPULATION GROWTH AND POLITICAL DYNAMICS ON THE HOME ISLANDS, AS WELL AS THE CHALLENGE AND EXCITEMENT OF EXPLORING UNKNOWN WATERS. BECAUSE ALL POLYNESIANS, MICRONESIANS, AND MANY MELANESIANS SPEAK AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES AND GROW CROPS DERIVED FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA, ALL THESE PEOPLES MOST CERTAINLY DERIVED FROM THAT REGION AND NOT THE NEW WORLD OR ELSEWHER E. THE UNDISPUTED PRE-COLUMBIAN PRESENCE IN OCEANIA OF THE SWEET POTATO, WHICH IS A NEW WORLD DOMESTICATE, HAS SOMETIMES BEEN USED TO SUPPORT HEYERDAHL'S 'AMERICAN INDIANS IN THE PACIFIC' THEORIES. HOWEVER, THIS IS ONE PLANT OUT OF A LONG LIST OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN DOMESTICATES. AS PATRICK KIRCH, AN AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, POINTS OUT, RATHER THAN BEING BROUGHT BY RAFTING SOUTH AMERICANS, SWEET POTATOES MIGHT JUST HAVE EASILY BEEN BROUGHT BACK BY RETURNING POLYNESIAN NAVIGATORS WHO COULD HAVE REACHED THE WEST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA. DIRECTIONS: NOW ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. THE GREATER PACIFIC REGION, TRADITIONALLY CALLED OCEANIA, CONSISTS OF THREE CULTURAL AREAS: MELANESIA, MICRONESIA, AND POLYNESIA. MELANESIA, IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, CONTAINS THE LARGE ISLANDS OF NEW GUINEA, THE SOLOMONS, VANUATU, AND NEW CALEDONIA. MICRONESIA, THE AREA NORTH OF MELANESIA, CONSISTS PRIMARILY OF SMALL SCATTERED ISLANDS. POLYNESIA IS THE CENTRAL PACIFIC AREA IN THE GREAT TRIANGLE DEFINED BY HAWAII, EASTER ISLAND, AND NEW ZEALAN
D.
BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS, THE ISLANDS IN THE TWO LARGEST CULTURAL AREAS, POLYNESIA AND MICRONESIA, TOGETHER CONTAINED A POPULATION ESTIMATED AT 700,000.