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Goofy title, but what I am driving at is this. We all know that most of the original inhabitants of the American continents came here by crossing a land bridge between Asia and NA up by what is today Alaska. But, other theories exist as well.
One such theory which has strong supporting evidence suggests that Northern European people's came to the shores of NA as well. And, if sea levels were low enough, it would not be out of the question to say a few islands between what is today Guinea and Brazil would not have aided in migrations from Africa as well, there is only about 3,000 miles separating the eastern most point in SA from Africa's western most point.
That leads me to the OP. When you look closely at a map, the Pacific Islands could easily have served as hopping points from which Aurstronesiean people could also have migrated to South America. This would be especially true in times of low sea levels. What we do know is that many cultural similarities exist between ancient Polynesian tribes and the indigenous peoples who inhabited places like Chile and Peru. The sweet potato, for example, was a common staple in both places.
So, the questions are this.
Did Austronesiean people island hop throughout the Pacific and eventually land in the Americas? Did the people of Peru and Chile spread out into the Pacific to eventually become the Polynesians? Did both continental cultures spread across the Pacific--one heading East from Asia; the other, West from S America--and meet somewhere, like the Hawaiian chain of islands, perhaps?
One such theory which has strong supporting evidence suggests that Northern European people's came to the shores of NA as well. And, if sea levels were low enough, it would not be out of the question to say a few islands between what is today Guinea and Brazil would not have aided in migrations from Africa as well, there is only about 3,000 miles separating the eastern most point in SA from Africa's western most point.
That leads me to the OP. When you look closely at a map, the Pacific Islands could easily have served as hopping points from which Aurstronesiean people could also have migrated to South America. This would be especially true in times of low sea levels. What we do know is that many cultural similarities exist between ancient Polynesian tribes and the indigenous peoples who inhabited places like Chile and Peru. The sweet potato, for example, was a common staple in both places.
So, the questions are this.
Did Austronesiean people island hop throughout the Pacific and eventually land in the Americas? Did the people of Peru and Chile spread out into the Pacific to eventually become the Polynesians? Did both continental cultures spread across the Pacific--one heading East from Asia; the other, West from S America--and meet somewhere, like the Hawaiian chain of islands, perhaps?