Academic literature on the topic 'Melanesia - Fiji'

Like the other archipelagos of Remote Oceania, Fiji was colonized by Lapita voyagers approximately 1000 b.c. Over the subsequent three millennia, Fijian populations underwent considerable change, resulting in the unique cultural, biological, and linguistic characteristics that differentiate Fiji from populations in both Polynesia to the east and Melanesia to the west. This essay summarizes the Lapita archaeology of the archipelago and later culture history including change in ceramic horizons, the spatial scale of interaction within the archipelago, and potential migrations into Fiji from othe

The book examines the extent to which States in the Pacific region have put in place legislative and administrative measures designed to promote and protect the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples within their State. The book starts by identifying and classifying the various States in the region, and commenting on general trends that are visible across the region. This analysis includes Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Island Countries in the geographic boundaries of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. The region is assessed against human rights standards, and the extent to wh

This chapter provides an overview of the economic performance and current situation of the economies in the Oceanic region. Oceania comprises the economically developed countries of Australia and New Zealand plus the more than 20 island countries and protectorates of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. In 2018, Australia dominated the region in terms of population (71% of the total for Oceania) and gross domestic product (86%). Melanesia, which includes Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and New Caledonia, contained 26% of the region's population and generated 4% of its gross regional product. According to the authors' forecasting model, Oceania's share of both world population and gross world product will rise strongly during the coming three decades, admittedly from a low base. Reflecting the high degree of complementarity of the Oceanic economies with those of Asia, this strong growth in the Oceanic region should support increasingly attractive opportunities for trade and investment with the economies of Asia.

The region of Oceania describes a collection of islands scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean between Asia and the Americas. The region is vast and largely covered by ocean. There are four subregions of this region including Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), Melanesia (Papua and New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia), Micronesia (Federated States of Micronesia and Guam), and Polynesia (includes French Polynesia, Samoa, Tonga, Tokalau, and Niue). Australasia is relatively affluent and developed with an ageing population, whereas the other nations are of a developing nature with relatively younger populations but will face dramatic population ageing over the next 40 years. Australasia has well-developed services for older people. The Indigenous populations of Australasia have worse health outcomes than the non-Indigenous populations. However, outside Australasia there is an urgent need to develop health and community services for older people in the remainder of the region.

The kava plant, Piper methysticum Forst. f., is an attractive shrub in the pepper family, Piperaceae (figure 12.1). Known by various names in tropical Pacific, such as yagona, kava, kava kava, ’awa, seka, and sakau, it is propagated vegetatively, as are most of the traditional crops in the region. Kava has been used for many centuries to produce psychoactive preparations. Its active principles, several lipidlike substances known as kavalactones, are concentrated in the rootstock and roots. These psychoactive chemicals are ingested traditionally by Pacific islanders as cold-water infusions of chewed, ground, pounded, or otherwise macerated kava stumps and roots. Mind-altering kava preparations are, or once were, imbibed in a wide range of Pacific Ocean societies. These include peoples living in some lowland areas on the large Melanesian island of New Guinea in the western Pacific to very isolated islands such as those in Polynesian Hawai’i, 7,000 kilometers to the northeast (figure 12.2). Beyond this widespread local use in the tropical Pacific, utilization of kava in parts of Europe as a plant source for medicinal preparations has a relatively lengthy history. In Europe it has been used as a sedative, tranquilizer, muscle relaxant, relief from menopausal symptoms, and treatment for urinary tract and bladder ailments (Lebot et al. 1999). Over the past decade, there has been rapidly increasing interest in kava well beyond the areas of traditional use among Pacific Islanders (figure 12.3). This includes a huge surge in the use of kava products in Europe, North America, Australia, and elsewhere. Within the past 3 to 5 years there has been widespread recognition of its potential to emerge as a mainstream herbal product. Modern cultivation and use of kava in the Pacific has significantly expanded in some traditional use areas such as Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and Pohnpei. There are also significant signs of rejuvenated interest in kava cultivation in some traditional areas of use where it had been abandoned because of depopulation, political prohibition, or zealous missionary denunciation. Increasing use and cultivation of kava on these Pacific islands has been stimulated by local consumption rates and rising demand for commercial export.