True Terra Nullius

[Maximus]

indonesians, no?

[Razgovory]

They originally seemed to have come from Taiwan.

[HisMajestyBOB]

They originally seemed to have come from Taiwan.

So Madagascar, Southeast Asia, and all of Polynesia are all traditional Chinese territory?

[Slargos]

*cough*

Most of the known world was not populated by Humans before we got to it. 

[Viking]

They originally seemed to have come from Taiwan.

So Madagascar, Southeast Asia, and all of Polynesia are all traditional Chinese territory?

No, Taiwan was colonized and it's indigenous population oppressed and Han'ified by the Manchu Dynasty. The Taiwanese Aboriginies are almost uniformally pro independence.

[Razgovory]

They originally seemed to have come from Taiwan.

So Madagascar, Southeast Asia, and all of Polynesia are all traditional Chinese territory?

No, Taiwan was colonized and it's indigenous population oppressed and Han'ified by the Manchu Dynasty. The Taiwanese Aboriginies are almost uniformally pro independence.

I honestly find the wide dispersion of that language group fascinating.  Some guys in little boats were a able to navigate the pacific and colonize areas between Hawaii and Madagascar.  It's probable they reached the Americas as well (but there is no direct evidence of that).  It's extremely impressive.

[Josquius]

Yeah, really weird they got all the way from Borneo to Madagascar. Surely they must have stopped over in India and other places and their descendants there have just been wiped out?

[dps]

Iceland and Greenland are the only large landmasses that qualify, I think (apparantly, the Vikings got to Greenland before the Eskimos according to some sources, though that's not exactly universally accepted). I'm not even 100% sure if either of them qualify--I'm not certain the first Viking settlers in either place were literate, though obviously some of the people who followed them were.

The other places that might qualify are either small islands (St. Helena, etc., though I guess the Falklands aren't really all that small), or were settled in what would be considered historical times, but by pre-literate peoples (New Zealand, Madagascar), or even today don't have permanent populations (Spitzbergen).

[Razgovory]

Iceland and Greenland are the only large landmasses that qualify, I think (apparantly, the Vikings got to Greenland before the Eskimos according to some sources, though that's not exactly universally accepted). I'm not even 100% sure if either of them qualify--I'm not certain the first Viking settlers in either place were literate, though obviously some of the people who followed them were.

The other places that might qualify are either small islands (St. Helena, etc., though I guess the Falklands aren't really all that small), or were settled in what would be considered historical times, but by pre-literate peoples (New Zealand, Madagascar), or even today don't have permanent populations (Spitzbergen).

There was a previous people who lived in Greenland called the Dorset.  The Eskimos wiped them out.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Mauritius and Reunion were uninhabited till the 16th century IIRC, they are actually quite a decent size, with a population of a million or so each.

[Slargos]

Iceland and Greenland are the only large landmasses that qualify, I think (apparantly, the Vikings got to Greenland before the Eskimos according to some sources, though that's not exactly universally accepted). I'm not even 100% sure if either of them qualify--I'm not certain the first Viking settlers in either place were literate, though obviously some of the people who followed them were.

The other places that might qualify are either small islands (St. Helena, etc., though I guess the Falklands aren't really all that small), or were settled in what would be considered historical times, but by pre-literate peoples (New Zealand, Madagascar), or even today don't have permanent populations (Spitzbergen).

Spitzbergen has a permanent population. 

[Slargos]

Mauritius and Reunion were uninhabited till the 16th century IIRC, they are actually quite a decent size, with a population of a million or so each.

They actually look like pretty good tourist destinations. 

[dps]

Iceland and Greenland are the only large landmasses that qualify, I think (apparantly, the Vikings got to Greenland before the Eskimos according to some sources, though that's not exactly universally accepted). I'm not even 100% sure if either of them qualify--I'm not certain the first Viking settlers in either place were literate, though obviously some of the people who followed them were.

The other places that might qualify are either small islands (St. Helena, etc., though I guess the Falklands aren't really all that small), or were settled in what would be considered historical times, but by pre-literate peoples (New Zealand, Madagascar), or even today don't have permanent populations (Spitzbergen).

Spitzbergen has a permanent population. 

Hmm.  I had read in several places that it was only seasonally settled, but according to Wiki you are right.

[Ideologue]

New Zealand and Madagascar were settled in the last 1000 years weren't they?

NZ I can see (although I'm still surprised), but Madagascar?  That's boggling.

Hint: closest major landmass is Africa. It wasn't settled from Africa.

I know, I looked it up.  That's weird.

Although it wasn't in the last thousand years, as asserted above it was about two thousand years ago, which makes it less weird.  I can see the island remaining undiscovered/unclaimed prior to the advent of the Arab marine, but not long afterward.

I honestly find the wide dispersion of that language group fascinating.  Some guys in little boats were a able to navigate the pacific and colonize areas between Hawaii and Madagascar.  It's probable they reached the Americas as well (but there is no direct evidence of that).  It's extremely impressive.

Shockingly so, really.  I can't understand the mindset that says, "let's spend half a year in an canoe looking for shit that may or may not exist!"  Although I guess a lot of discoveries were made because they got lost or were tossed off course by accident.

Yeah, really weird they got all the way from Borneo to Madagascar. Surely they must have stopped over in India and other places and their descendants there have just been wiped out?

Wiped out or absorbed.  Isn't that interchange how Hinduism got spread to Indonesia and Vietnam?  (And maybe Buddhism too, although I think for Vietnam that came indirectly via China.)

[jimmy olsen]

Although it wasn't in the last thousand years, as asserted above it was about two thousand years ago, which makes it less weird.

Still people managed to reach Australia 50k years ago, and modern humans lived right next store in Africa for over twice that long.