Pre- Contact Period

Pre- Contact Period

• It is a period before the Europeans arrived in Fiji.
• Before the arrival of the Europeans, Pacific Islanders have already settled in the Pacific at least for 40 000 years.
• They established themselves and created a social structure and organization.

EARLY SETTLERS

There were three periods of early voyaging:

a. Ist  Period: 50,000 – 60, 000 years ago.

Movements of people from South China and the first Aboriginal people moved to Continent Australia and New Guinea.

b. 2nd Period: 30,000 – 40,000 years ago.

People continued to move into South East Asia, Australia and mainland New Guinea islands and nearly Solomon Island. 

c. 3rd Period: 3500 – 3000 years

People moved quickly through voyaging from Melanesia out into the South Pacific, and into the North Pacific from Philippines/Taiwan into the atolls of Micronesia.