Madagascar Populated By Indonesians

Scientists have completed genetic testing that suggests previous theories that Madagascar was populated by people from Borneo around 1,500 to 2,000 years ago are correct.

news.yahoo.com...

This could lead credence to the theories that Asians might have sailed across the Pacific. If 4,000 miles across the Indian Ocean, then why not the other way?

[edit on 6-5-2005 by Hajduk]

Most likely the land mass at the time wasn't all under water, so the distances might not have been so large as they are today.

For instance after the 12/26 Tsunami a great sunken Indonesian city was found, that had once been wiped out by Tsunami and only heard of in legend until this year.

Certainly the Pheonicians were travelling great distances and mastering navigation in 2500BC.

Perhaps the "migration" was slave colonies and such?

See this map

Its not a hard stretch of the imagination to see the possibility of sea to land to sea to land again travel to breach the big Indonesian-Madagascar gap.

If they could get to Easter Island, then its no real challenge to get to madagascar.

Originally posted by Hajduk
Scientists have completed genetic testing that suggests previous theories that Madagascar was populated by people from Borneo around 1,500 to 2,000 years ago are correct.

news.yahoo.com...

That's not so very long ago... we're talking about 10 AD to 500 AD, when most of the world's civilizations had ships that could sale for some distance beyond land.

This could lead credence to the theories that Asians might have sailed across the Pacific. If 4,000 miles across the Indian Ocean, then why not the other way?

By that time, they certainly had the technology. In fact, they had extensive trade routes over water.

HOWEVER... it doesn't mean that they were making long sea voyages in, say, 5,000 BC.

[edit on 6-5-2005 by Byrd]

Thor Heyerdahl showed that ancients had the technology to make long sea voyages. I'm not sure what era he was trying to duplicate but I believe it was longer then 2,000 years ago.

www.kon-tiki.no...

[edit on 28-5-2005 by DB Cooper]

Originally posted by Byrd
HOWEVER... it doesn't mean that they were making long sea voyages in, say, 5,000 BC.

(I know we're talking about Indonesia and Madegascar, but...)

Nope, sure weren't any Aussies in 5,000 BCE...

Great story, man. I carve canoes, and you would not believe how far you can go in a boat properly handled, no matter how small. Or even on a paddleboard.

Our ancestors had no fear gear

[edit on 28-5-2005 by Chakotay]

i'm malay/indonesian and from what i know, my ancestors were enslaved and brought to not only madagascar but also south africa and even some parts of south america like suriname. some of em still speak indonesian there or something similar to it. india was part of africa a long time ago and drifted away to where it is now and that's why there are the himalaya mountains. so madagascar might've been a similar case.