Melanesia consists of the large group of islands of west-central Oceania. They are located between Micronesia in the north and Polynesia to the south and east. The term 'Melanesian' is imprecise, for two different populations and cultures inhabited the area.
The first were the Papuans who arrived at least 40,000 years ago. They occupied Papua New Guinea and the islands east of it. They developed one of the earliest agricultural complexes based on the cultivation of root crops, sugar cane and bananas.
Around 2000 BC, there appeared another people and culture. Travelling eastwards, seafarers from South-East Asia moved into areas north of New Guinea. These people and their culture have been labelled 'Lapita' by archaeologists, and it was they who continued to push eastwards towards Polynesia, thus beginning the colonization of central Oceania.
