1500 BC-AD 1 Lapita Culture

Archaeological evidence suggests that from 1500 BC, people speaking Austronesian languages (previously known as the Malayo-Polynesian language family) began to move down from Southeast Asia and into the western Pacific, via the north coast of New Guinea. They travelled in sturdy sailing canoes which were capable of the long sea crossings necessary to reach some of the islands. It is said that the migration of these peoples may explain the genetic variation of the Pacific island groups.

Evidence for the arrival of these peoples is the wide distribution of a distinctively patterned earthenware pottery dating from before 800 BC and found over much of the western Pacific, known today as Lapita pottery. Evidence also suggests that western Lapita-making peoples who settled the islands of Melanesia (including Santa Cruz, New Britain, Vanuatu and New Caledonia) had different cultural traits to those who settled in the east of the region (from Fiji to the islands of western Polynesia). However, Lapita pottery could have reached these areas through exchange and trade as well as through settlement.

Another indicator of the movement of people is plant distribution. It appears that the migrants carried staples such as taro (a staple root crop) and breadfruit with them as they moved from island to island.