page_title: Post-classical history
section_title: Oceania
hierarchical_section_title: Post-classical history / Oceania
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Иллюстрация для викиучебника Гавайеведение
context_page_description: Post-classical history is a periodization commonly used by the school of ‘world history’ instead of Middle or Medieval Ages, which is roughly synonymous. The period runs from about 500 CE to 1500 CE, though there may be regional differences and debates. The era was globally characterized by the expansion of civilizations geographically and development of networks of trade between civilizations.
  In Asia, the spread of Islam created a new empire and Islamic Golden Age with trade among the Asian, African and European continents, and advances in science in the medieval Islamic world. East Asia experienced the full establishment of power of Imperial China, which established several prosperous dynasties influencing Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Religions such as Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism spread in the region. Gunpowder was developed in China during the post-classical era. The Mongol Empire connected Europe and Asia, creating safe trade and stability between the two regions. In total the population of the world doubled in the time period from approximately 210 million in 500 CE to 461 million in 1500 CE.
context_section_description: Separate from developments in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas the region of greater Oceania continued to develop independently of the outside world. In Australia, the society of Aborigines and Melanesia changed little through the Post Classical Period since their arrival in the area from Africa around 50,000 BC. The only outside contact were encounters with fishermen of Indonesian origin. Polynesian and Micronesian Peoples are rooted from Taiwan and Southeast Asia and began their migration into the Pacific Ocean from 3000–1500 BC.
  During Post-classical Times the Micronesian and the Polynesian peoples constructed cities in some areas such as Nan Madol and Mu'a. Around 1200 AD the Tu'i Tonga Empire spread its influence far and wide throughout the South Pacific Islands, being described by academics as a maritime chiefdom which used trade networks to keep power centralized around the king's capital. Polynesians on outrigger canoes discovered and colonized some of the last uninhabited islands of earth. Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island were among the final places to be reached, settlers discovering pristine lands. Oral Tradition claimed that navigator Ui-te-Rangiora discovered icebergs in the Southern Ocean. In exploring and settling, Polynesian settlers did not strike at random but used their knowledge of wind and water currents to reach their destinations.
  On the settled islands some Polynesian groups became distinct from one another. A significant example being the Maori of New Zealand. Other island systems kept in contact with each other, such as Hawaii and the Society Islands. Ecologically, Polynesians had the challenge of sustaining themselves within limited environments. Some settlements caused mass extinctions of some native plant and animal species over time by hunting species such as the Moa and introducing the Polynesian Rat. Easter Island settlers engaged in complete ecological destruction of their habtiat and their population crashed afterwards possibly due to the construction of the Easter Island Statues. Other colonizing groups adapted to accommodate to the ecology of specific islands such as the Moriori of the Chatham Islands.
  Europeans on their voyages visited many Pacific Islands in the 16th and 17th century, but most areas of Oceania were not colonized until after the voyages of British explorer James Cook in the 1780s.
caption: Hale o Keawe, a restored Heiau in the U.S State of Hawaii, used as sacred temple and sacrificial altar. The statues represent traditional gods.
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