Austronesian peoples
Austronesians,Austronesian peoples or Austronesian-speaking peoples are various populations in Asia, Oceania and Africa that speak languages of the Austronesian family. They include Taiwanese aborigines; the majority ethnic groups of Malaysia, East Timor, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Madagascar, Micronesia, and Polynesia, as well as the Polynesian peoples of New Zealand and Hawaii, and the non-Papuan people of Melanesia. They are also found in the minorities of the Pattani region of Thailand, the Cham areas in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Hainan, parts of Sri Lanka, southern Myanmar and certain islands of the Andaman Islands. The territories populated by Austronesian-speaking peoples are known collectively as Austronesia.
Prehistory and history