Genetic, Linguistic and Molecular Anthropological Study of the Indian Ocean Littoral in Austronesian Dispersal Across the Pacific

Abstract

The Indian Ocean region is a critical route/corridor/barrier for the migration and settlement of people whose social, linguistic and genetic ancestry is of interest to anthropologists worldwide. Varying from the ‘little tradition’ of small isolated populations to the ‘great tradition’ of global and admixed heritage, in the field of collating evidences from culture, language and anthropological genetics this paper will examine the ‘Austronesian dispersal’ within the boundaries of the Indian ocean sporadically sprinkled across Pacific islanders.