Evolution of Pacific Cultures

Video 06 of the Introduction to Ethnobotany series. Presented by Will McClatchey.
Pacific island cultures have developed through a long series of migrations generally from the west to the east of the Pacific. Evidences of relationships between the current cultures can be found in their common languages, tool kits and food plants. The populating of the more isolated Eastern Pacific islands, including Tahiti ma, Hawai'i, Ao Tea Roa and Rapa Nui represents one of the greatest achievements of human history. Plants played key roles in the success of these events and in the independent evolution of the various Polynesian societies. This episode reviews some of the challenges faced in the colonization of remote Oceania and the positive and negative impacts of human settlement on plants and animals of various environments.