Trois millnaires de migrations et de mtissages en Nouvelle-Caldonie. Ralit biologique et dficit culturel

Abstract

Diversity took a variety of forms during the colonial period. This is why biological mtissage actually gave rise to a plurality of mixed communities. The Austronesian society that took shape in New Caledonia around 1100 BC was no exception. It did not coalesce around the arrival of a single pirogue or a single group from Vanuatu, but rather around the arrival of successive waves of humans from the northwest islands of the Melanesian arc. However, if biological mtissage remained more or less constant during the first three millennia of a human presence in New Caledonia, its examplars were progressively integrated into the dominant culture. Each new wave of human colonization brought with it technological innovations or new social practices. Ultimately, while we can observe a gradual retreat in the perception of mtissage as colonial society's preferred solution, native groups increasingly took a back seat by comparison withf other communities.