Akar NusaAkar Nusa / Shelves / The sea peoples
The sea peoples
Farmers and sailors who likely spread from Taiwan across the islands and out into the Pacific.
WHERE THE STORIES ON THIS SHELF HAPPENED. SHAPES ARE SCHEMATIC.
Stories on this shelf
11 written, 5 coming soon
From Taiwan to the islands: the Austronesian story
A farming people with boats spread over half the world's oceans.
The sea peoples · 3 min readLanguages that travelled: the Malayic family
Malay is cousin to the languages of Madagascar, Hawaii and Taiwan.
The sea peoples · 3 min readWhere does the word Melayu come from?
The name has moved around Sumatra, Melaka and Borneo for 1,300 years.
The sea peoples · 3 min readBajau Laut: people born on boats
The sea nomads of the Sulu and Celebes seas, now also in Sabah.
The sea peoples · 3 min readMother line of the islands: B4a1a and the Polynesian motif
A famous mother-line family that marks the sea journey, also found in Malaysia.
The sea peoples · 3 min readTaiwan, the Philippines and the first sails south
Archaeology and language both point to Taiwan as the first stop.
The sea peoples · 3 min readBoats, outriggers and sails: how they crossed
The tools that opened the sea: outrigger, sail, navigation by stars.
The sea peoples · 3 min readThe Malay homeland debate: Sumatra, Borneo, or both?
Scholars still disagree on where the Malayic speakers first came from.
The sea peoples · 3 min readOrang Laut: sea nomads of the Straits
Boat dwellers who kept the Straits of Melaka alive.
The sea peoples · 4 min readSama-Bajau across the region
One family of languages and sea ways, from Borneo to the Philippines.
The sea peoples · 4 min readFather line of the islands: O1a and O2
The Y-line families that tell the Austronesian and mainland sides of our history.
Madagascar: a Malay sea journey to Africa
Malay-speaking sailors reached Madagascar 1,200 years ago.
The spice and cloves: Maluku and the southern route
Spice islands drew ships through Malaysian waters long before Europe knew.
Pottery, jades and the early island trade
Jade ear ornaments connect Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Dong Son drums and the bronze age of the islands
Bronze drums travelled to Sumatra, Java and Peninsula.
The Nusantao sailors: one theory of sea traders
An old idea that maritime traders spread culture.
16 family lines linked to this shelf
A line being common in a place does not mean everyone there carries it, and it never settles who anyone is.
