“The Single Most Astonishing Fact of Human Geography”: Indonesia’s Far West Colony

Linguistic and cultural evidence suggest that Madagascar was the final point of two major dispersals of Austronesian-and Bantuspeaking populations. Today, the Mikea are described as the lastknown Malagasy population reported to be still practicing a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. It is unclear, however, whether the Mikea descend from a remnant population that existed before the arrival of Austronesian and Bantu agriculturalists or whether it is only their lifestyle that separates them from the other contemporary populations of South Madagascar. To address these questions we have performed a genome-wide analysis of >700,000 SNP markers on 21 Mikea, 24 Vezo, and 24 Temoro individuals, together with 50 individuals from Bajo and Lebbo populations from Indonesia. Our analyses of these data in the context of data available from other Southeast Asian and African populations reveal that all three Malagasy populations are derived from the same admixture event involving Austronesian and Bantu sources. In contrast to the fact that most of the vocabulary of the Malagasy speakers is derived from the Barito group of the Austronesian language family, we observe that only one-third of their genetic ancestry is related to the populations of the Java-Kalimantan-Sulawesi area. Because no additional ancestry components distinctive for the Mikea were found, it is likely that they have adopted their hunter-gatherer way of life through cultural reversion, and selection signals suggest a genetic adaptation to their new lifestyle.

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“…1 D.P., H.R., and L.P. contributed equally to this study. 2 To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: jarakoto@gmail.com, thierry.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…settlement | migration | DNA L ocated 400 km of the East African coast, Madagascar has been referred to as "the single most astonishing fact of human geography" (1,2). Despite its proximity to Africa, less than 10% of the vocabulary of the Malagasy language is from African languages (mainly Sabaki, a branch of Bantu) (3)(4)(5).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome-wide evidence of Austronesian–Bantu admixture and cultural reversion in a hunter-gatherer group of Madagascar

Pierron

Razafindrazaka

Pagani

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…While most groups speaking Austronesian languages moved eastward, settling the Pacific Ocean, others moved westward through the Indian Ocean, reaching eastern Africa and Madagascar. Dispersing halfway around the world within the past two millennia, the Austronesian expansion is often considered the last substantial wave of migration in human prehistory [ 3 - 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome suggest the settlement of Madagascar by Indonesian sea nomad populations

et al. 2015

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BackgroundLinguistic, cultural and genetic characteristics of the Malagasy suggest that both Africans and Island Southeast Asians were involved in the colonization of Madagascar. Populations from the Indonesian archipelago played an especially important role because linguistic evidence suggests that the Malagasy language branches from the Southeast Barito language family of southern Borneo, Indonesia, with the closest language spoken today by the Ma’anyan. To test for a genetic link between Malagasy and these linguistically related Indonesian populations, we studied the Ma’anyan and other Indonesian ethnic groups (including the sea nomad Bajo) that, from their historical and linguistic contexts, may be modern descendants of the populations that helped enact the settlement of Madagascar.ResultA combination of phylogeographic analysis of genetic distances, haplotype comparisons and inference of parental populations by linear optimization, using both maternal and paternal DNA lineages, suggests that Malagasy derive from multiple regional sources in Indonesia, with a focus on eastern Borneo, southern Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda islands.ConclusionSettlement may have been mediated by ancient sea nomad movements because the linguistically closest population, Ma’anyan, has only subtle genetic connections to Malagasy, whereas genetic links with other sea nomads are more strongly supported. Our data hint at a more complex scenario for the Indonesian settlement of Madagascar than has previously been recognized.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1394-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Kumar, Ann (2011). In the article entitled "The Single Most Astonishing Fact of Human Geography: Indonesia's Far West Colony" [9], the land of Waqwaq and its people as well as how this myth emerged (the Genesis of a Myth) is explored. The problems of Arab geographical knowledge in transmitting information about the introduction of Arab lands in the third and fourth centuries, 10 th and 11 th AD, is described.…”

Section: Research Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Study of the Talking Tree Motif in Persian Versions of Qazvini’s Wonders of Creation (Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt)

Heidari

Hosseini

2021

Vestnik SPbSU. Arts

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A tree is one of the most beautiful creations in the world. The development of mythical concepts and the prevalence of some beliefs about it have led to certain connotations and the emergence of specific beliefs in human thought. Among trees, there is the talking tree (Waqwaq), which has a long history and has been mentioned in various books, including reliable geographic sources such as Qazvini’s the Wonders of Creation. The article examines the pictorial motif of talking tree in the Persian version of Qazvini’s Wonders of Creation and considers the similarities and differences of its presentation in Persian versions as well as the origin of its aesthetic principles. The results of the research show that all versions have human heads or a statue on the tree. Among them, the Wonders of Creation 1816 AD has a female motif and depicts a female statue on the tree. The head motif in the Wonders of Creation of 1550–1560 AD is male and illustrates masculine statues on the tree. The head motif in the Wonders of Creation 1566 AD, the Wonders of Creation of the 16 century AD, the Wonders of Creation 1651 AD and the Wonders of Creation 1695 AD and the two heads in the Wonders of Creation 1822 AD was male and only depict human heads on the tree, not the full body. In some versions, in addition to human heads, animal heads are also portrayed on the tree. What is interesting is the presence of the head of legendary animals and birds such as Dragon and Simurgh.

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“The Single Most Astonishing Fact of Human Geography”: Indonesia’s Far West Colony

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

Genome-wide evidence of Austronesian–Bantu admixture and cultural reversion in a hunter-gatherer group of Madagascar

Genome-wide evidence of Austronesian–Bantu admixture and cultural reversion in a hunter-gatherer group of Madagascar

Mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome suggest the settlement of Madagascar by Indonesian sea nomad populations

A Comparative Study of the Talking Tree Motif in Persian Versions of Qazvini’s Wonders of Creation (Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt)

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