Abstract
For probably 500 years before the descent of a global cold period in about 1000 BC and for a thousand years after it ended, there is evidence that mariners followed a major West Pacific Warm Pool current from the Spice Islands to east Africa over a distance of more than 11,000 km. This trade route became known as the Cinnamon Route. Evidence from many sources supports the historicity, range, consistent use and economic viability of the Cinnamon Route: historical evidence stretching back to Roman times for its existence as a trade route; maritime evidence from the survival to the present day in the Indian Ocean of the Halmaherian double-outrigger that sailed the route; and genetic evidence of Spice Island involvement with the route as early colonizers of Madagascar based on the possession by Malagasy of Asian descent of a near-coalescent Polynesian motif.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Athens J, Ward J (2000) Paleoenvironmental evidence for early human settlement in Palau: the Ngerchau Core. In Stevenson C, Lee G, Morin F (eds.) Pacific 2000, Proceedings of the fifth international conference on Easter Island and the Pacific, pp. 165–178
Fornander A (1877 reprinted 1969) An account of the Polynesian race, its origin and migrations. Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Vol I p. 162
Whatahoro H (trans. Smith S) (1915) The lore of the Whare-wananga. Part II, J Polyn Soc 2: 18
Whatahoro H (trans. Smith S) (1915) The lore of the Whare-wananga. Part II, J Polyn Soc 2: 49–50
King V (1993) The peoples of Borneo. Blackwell, Oxford, p. 81
Hurles M, Sykes B et al. (2005) The dual origin of the Malagasy in Island Southeast Asia and East Africa: evidence from maternal and paternal lineages. Am J Hum Genet 76: 894–901, 894
Dahl, O (1951) Malgache et Maanyan. Egede Instituttet, Oslo
Adelaar, A (1995) Asian roots of the Malagasy: a linguistic perspective. Bijdragen tot de Taal-land en Volkenkunde 151: 325–356
Dewar R, Wright H (1993) The culture history of Madagascar. J. World Prehist 7: 417–466
Burney D, Burney L et al. (2004) A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar. J. Hum Evol 47: 25–63
Miller J (1969) The spice trade of the Roman Empire 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 171
Hurles M, Sykes B et al. (2005) The dual origin of the Malagasy in Island Southeast Asia and East Africa: evidence from maternal and paternal lineages. Am J Hum Genet 76: 895
Oppenheimer S (2004) In: Jobling M, Hurles M, Tyler-Smith C (eds.) Human evolutionary genetics, peoples and disease, Garland Publishing, New York, pp. 359–360
Soodyall H, Jenkins T, Stoneking M (1995) Polynesian mtDNA in the Malagasy. Natl Genet Med 10: 377–378, 377
Soodyall H, Jenkins T, Stoneking M (1995) Polynesian mtDNA in the Malagasy. Natl Genet Med 10: 377
Pliny the Elder, Natural History, quoted in Miller [11]
Haddon A and Hornell J, Canoes of Oceania. Bernice P.Bishop Museum Special Publications, 27, 28, 29, 1936–1938, reprinted by Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, 1975, Vol. III, p. 17
Miller J (1969) The spice trade of the Roman Empire 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 166
Burney D, Burney L et al. (2004) A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar. J Hum Evol 47: 25–63, 31–32
Burney D, Flannery T (2005) Fifty millennia of catastrophic extinctions after human contact. TRENDS in Ecol and Evol 20(7): 395–400, 398
Burney, Burney et al. (2004) A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar. J Hum Evol 47: 34
Athens J, Ward J (2000) Paleoenvironmental evidence for early human settlement in Palau: the Ngerchau Core. In Stevenson C, Lee G, Morin F (eds.) Pacific 2000, Proceedings of the fifth international conference on Easter Island and the Pacific, p. 165
Lamb H (1972–1977) Present, past and future, Two volumes, Methuen & Co. Ltd., London
Haddon A and Hornell J, Canoes of Oceania. Bernice P.Bishop Museum Special Publications, 27, 28, 29, 1936–1938, reprinted by Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, 1975, Vol. III, p. 17
Philip Beale’s website: http://www.borobudurshipexpedition.com
Long J (2003) The dinosaur dealers. Allen and Unwin, Sydney, p. 43
Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, p. 340
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pearce, C.E., Pearce, F. (2010). Transoceanic Trade and Migration (1). In: Oceanic Migration. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-3825-8
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3826-5
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)