Total population | |
---|---|
14,800,000 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea, Indonesia | |
Languages | |
Languages of Papua In Papuan New Guinea: Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, Unserdeutsch and English In Indonesia: Papuan Malay and Indonesian | |
Religion | |
Christianity, Traditional Faiths | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Melanesians, Ambonese, Moluccans, Aboriginal Australians, Malagasy people |
The indigenous peoples of Western New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, commonly called Papuans, [1] are Melanesians. There is genetic evidence for two major historical lineages in New Guinea and neighboring islands: a first wave from the Malay Archipelago perhaps 50,000 years ago when New Guinea and Australia were a single landmass called Sahul and, much later, a wave of Austronesian people from the north who introduced Austronesian languages and pigs about 3,500 years ago. They also left a small but significant genetic trace in many coastal Papuan peoples.
Linguistically, Papuans speak languages from the many families of non-Austronesian languages that are found only on New Guinea and neighboring islands, as well as Austronesian languages along parts of the coast, and recently developed creoles such as Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, Unserdeutsch, and Papuan Malay. [2] [3] [4]
The term "Papuan" is used in a wider sense in linguistics and anthropology. In linguistics, "Papuan languages" is a cover term for the diverse, mutually unrelated, non-Austronesian language families spoken in Melanesia, the Torres Strait Islands, and parts of Wallacea. In anthropology, "Papuan" is often used to denote the highly diverse aboriginal populations of Melanesia and Wallacea prior to the arrival of Austronesian-speakers, and the dominant genetic traces of these populations in the current ethnic groups of these areas. [3]
Ethnologue 's 14th edition lists 826 languages of Papua New Guinea and 257 languages of Western New Guinea, a total of 1083 languages, with 12 languages overlapping. They can be divided into two groups, the Austronesian languages, and all the others, called Papuan languages for convenience. The term Papuan languages refers to an areal grouping, rather than a linguistic one. So-called Papuan languages comprise hundreds of different languages, most of which are not related. [5] [6]
The following indigenous peoples live within the modern borders of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Austronesian-speaking (AN) groups are given in italics.
Papuan ethnic groups / tribes in the Indonesian province of West Papua include Arfak, Borai, Doreri, Hatam, Irarutu, Koiwai, Kuri, Madewana, Mairasi, Maniwak, Mbaham, Matta, Meiah, Miere, Meyah, Moire, Moru, Moskona, Napiti, Oburauw, Roon, Roswar, Sebyar, Sougb, Soviar, Sumuri, Wamesa, Warumba, Waruri, Wondama. [7]
Papuan ethnic groups / tribes in the Indonesian province of Southwest Papua include Abun, Ambel, Batanta, Biak (Betew, Kafdaron, Bikar, Usba, Wardo), Biga, Butlih, Domu, Fiawat, Imekko (Inanwatan-Bira, Matemani-Iwaro, Kais-Awe, Kokoda-Emeyode), Irires, Ma'ya (Kawe, Langanyan, Wawiyai), Matbat, Maybrat (Ayamaru, Mare, Karon Dori, Ayfat, Aytinyo), Meyah, Moi-Ma'ya, Moi, Mpur, Nerigo, Tehit, Tepin, Yahadian, Yaben-Konda. [7]
Papuan ethnic groups/tribes in the Indonesian province of Papua include: [8]
Jayapura City |
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Jayapura Regency |
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Sarmi Regency |
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Keerom Regency |
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Biak Numfor Regency |
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Waropen Regency |
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Yapen Islands Regency |
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Mamberamo Regency |
Papuan ethnic groups/tribes in the Indonesian province of Highland Papua include: [8]
Jayawijaya Regency | |
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Pegunungan Bintang Regency |
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Tolikara Regency |
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Yahukimo Regency |
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Papuan ethnic groups/tribes in the Indonesian province of Central Papua include: [8]
Mimika Regency |
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Nabire Regency [9] |
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Painai Regency | |
Puncak Jaya Regency |
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Papuan ethnic groups/tribes in the Indonesian province of South Papua include: [8]
Merauke Regency |
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Asmat Regency | |
Mappi Regency |
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Boven Digoel Regency |
The origin of Papuans is generally associated with the first settlement of Australasia by a lineage dubbed 'Australasians' or 'Australo-Papuans' during the Initial Upper Paleolithic, which is "ascribed to a population movement with uniform genetic features and material culture" (Ancient East Eurasians), and sharing deep ancestry with modern East Asian peoples and other Asia-Pacific groups. [10] [11] [12] It is estimated that people reached Sahul (the geological continent consisting of Australia and New Guinea) between 50,000 and 37,000 years ago. Rising sea levels separated New Guinea from Australia about 10,000 years ago. However, Aboriginal Australians and Papuans had diverged genetically much earlier, around 40,000 years BP. Papuans are more closely related to Melanesians than to Aboriginal Australians. [13] [12]
The majority of Papuan Y-DNA Haplogroups belong to subclades of Haplogroup MS, and Haplogroup C1b2a. The frequency of each haplogroup varies along geographic clines. [14] [15]
The genetic makeup of Papuans is primarily derived from Ancient East Eurasians, which relates them to other mainland Asian groups such as the "AASI", Andamanese, as well as East/Southeast Asians, although Papuans may have also received some gene flow from an earlier group (xOoA), around 2%, [16] next to additional archaic Denisovan admixture in the Sahul region. Papuans may habor varying degrees of deep admixture from "a lineage basal to West and East-Eurasians which occurred sometimes between 45 and 38kya", although they are generally regarded "as a simple sister group of Tianyuan" ("Basal East Asians"). [11] [12] [10]
There is evidence that the ancestors of Papuans and related groups "underwent a strong bottleneck before the settlement of the region, and separated around 20,000–40,000 years ago". [17]
Papuans display pronounced genetic diversity, explained through isolation and drift between different subgroups after the settlement of New Guinea. The most notable differentiation was found to be between Highlanders and Lowlanders. Papuan Highlanders fall into three clusters, but form a single clade compared against Lowlanders. The Highlanders underwent a population bottleneck around 10,000 years ago, associated with the adoption of Neolithic lifestyles. Papuan Lowlanders display increased diversity and can be broadly differentiated into a Southern Lowlander cluster and a Northern Lowlander cluster. The genetic differentiation among Papuans is suggested to date back at least 20kya, while the sub-structure among Highlanders dates back around 10kya, with higher diversity among western Highlanders than Eastern ones. The genetic diversity is paralleled by linguistic and cultural diversity. [18]
Based on his genetic studies of the Denisova hominin, an ancient human species discovered in 2010, Svante Pääbo claims that ancient human ancestors of the Papuans interbred in Asia with these humans. He has found that people of New Guinea share 4%–7% of their genome with the Denisovans, indicating this exchange. [19] Denisovan introgressions may have influenced the immune system of present-day Papuans and potentially favoured "variants to immune-related phenotypes" and "adaptation to the local environment". [20]
In a 2005 study of ASPM gene variants, Mekel-Bobrov et al. found that the Papuan people have among the highest rate of the newly evolved ASPM Haplogroup D, at 59.4% occurrence of the approximately 6,000-year-old allele. [21] While it is not yet known exactly what selective advantage is provided by this gene variant, the haplogroup D allele is thought to be positively selected in populations and to confer some substantial advantage that has caused its frequency to rapidly increase.
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Southeast Asia and are part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, with an Urheimat in Taiwan. They speak the Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic subfamily within the Austronesian language family. The Indigenous Māori people form the largest Polynesian population, followed by Samoans, Native Hawaiians, Tahitians, Tongans, and Cook Islands Māori.
Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian language family or one of the many unrelated families of Papuan languages. There are several creoles of the region, such as Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, Solomon Islands Pijin, Bislama, and Papuan Malay.
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia is the study of the genetics and archaeogenetics of the ethnic groups of South Asia. It aims at uncovering these groups' genetic histories. The geographic position of the Indian subcontinent makes its biodiversity important for the study of the early dispersal of anatomically modern humans across Asia.
Haplogroup M, AKA M-P256 and Haplogroup K2b1b is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. M-P256 is a descendant haplogroup of Haplogroup K2b1, and is believed to have first appeared between 32,000 to 47,000 years ago.
Haplogroup R, or R-M207, is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is both numerous and widespread among modern populations.
In human mitochondrial genetics, haplogroup E is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup typical for the Malay Archipelago. It is a subgroup of haplogroup M9.
Tianyuan man are the remains of one of the earliest modern humans to inhabit East Asia. In 2007, researchers found 34 bone fragments belonging to a single individual at the Tianyuan Cave near Beijing, China. Radiocarbon dating shows the bones to be between 42,000 and 39,000 years old, which may be slightly younger than the only other finds of bones of a similar age at the Niah Caves in Sarawak on the South-east Asian island of Borneo.
In the course of the peopling of the World by Homo sapiens, East Asia was reached about 50,000 years ago. The "recent African origin" lineage of 70 kya diverged into identifiable East Eurasian and West Eurasian lineages by about 50 kya. The East Eurasian ancestors of East Asians used a southern route to reach South and Southeast Asia, along which they rapidly diverged into the ancestors of Indigenous South Asians (AASI), Papuans, East Asians and Andamanese peoples. This early East Asian lineage diverged further during the Last Glacial Maximum, contributing outgoing from Mainland Southeast Asia significantly to the peopling of the Americas via Beringia about 25 kya. After the last ice age China became cut off from neighboring island groups. The previous phenotypes of early East Asians became either replaced or prevailed among more geographically distant groups.
Early human migrations are the earliest migrations and expansions of archaic and modern humans across continents. They are believed to have begun approximately 2 million years ago with the early expansions out of Africa by Homo erectus. This initial migration was followed by other archaic humans including H. heidelbergensis, which lived around 500,000 years ago and was the likely ancestor of Denisovans and Neanderthals as well as modern humans. Early hominids had likely crossed land bridges that have now sunk.
Haplogroup S-M230, also known as S1a1b, is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is by far the most numerically significant subclade of Haplogroup S1a.
In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans or the "Out of Africa" theory (OOA) is the most widely accepted model of the geographic origin and early migration of anatomically modern humans. It follows the early expansions of hominins out of Africa, accomplished by Homo erectus and then Homo neanderthalensis.
The tables below provide statistics on the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups most commonly found among ethnolinguistic groups and populations from East and South-East Asia.
Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans occurred during the Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic. The interbreeding happened in several independent events that included Neanderthals and Denisovans, as well as several unidentified hominins.
Listed here are notable ethnic groups and native populations from the Oceania and East Indonesia by human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups based on relevant studies.
Various genetic studies on Filipinos have been performed, to analyze the population genetics of the various ethnic groups in the Philippines.
Southeast Asia was first reached by anatomically modern humans possibly before 70,000 years ago. Anatomically modern humans are suggested to have reached Southeast Asia twice in the course of the Southern Dispersal migrations during and after the formation of a distinct East Asian clade from 70,000 to 50,000 years ago.
This article summarizes the genetic makeup and population history of East Asian peoples and their connection to genetically related populations such as Southeast Asians and North Asians, as well as Oceanians, and partly, Central Asians, South Asians, and Native Americans. They are collectively referred to as "East Eurasians" in population genomics.
The genetic history of Africa summarizes the genetic makeup and population history of African populations in Africa, composed of the overall genetic history, including the regional genetic histories of North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa, as well as the recent origin of modern humans in Africa. The Sahara served as a trans-regional passageway and place of dwelling for people in Africa during various humid phases and periods throughout the history of Africa. It also served as a biological barrier that restricted geneflow between the northern and central parts of Africa since its desertification, contributing to the diverse and distinct population structures on the continent.
Taken together with a lower bound of the final settlement of Sahul at 37 kya it is reasonable to describe Papuans as either an almost even mixture between East-Eurasians and a lineage basal to West and East-Eurasians which occurred sometimes between 45 and 38kya, or as a sister lineage of East-Eurasians with or without a minor basal OoA or xOoA contribution. We here chose to parsimoniously describe Papuans as a simple sister group of Tianyuan, cautioning that this may be just one out of six equifinal possibilities.