# Were The Arawak Indians Polynesians? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758 "2004-01-16T14:48:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/1 "2004-01-16T14:48:54Z")
Just a while ago I met a woman who claimed to be 90% Arawk indian (the Arawks were the original inhabitants of the Caribbean islands, before Columbus). This woman’s appearance was striking-she looked like she had stepped right out of a Paul Gaugin painting from Tahiti. Is there any evidence that the Polynesians migrated into the Caribbean basin area? I understand that the Arawks are just about extinct…has any DNA work been done on them to trace their ancestry? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/2 "2004-01-16T14:55:01Z")
There is no DNA evidence I’ve ever seen that any extant Indian group has Polynesian ancestry. But given the origin of both groups in Asia, it’s not surprising that there are superficial similarities in appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/3 "2004-01-16T16:18:23Z")
As **John Mace** indicates, the origin of American Indians in Asia sometimes results in some similarities in appearance to Asian groups. I have seen Indians in various places that could have been mistaken by a casual observer for someone from Japan or China, not to mention Polynesia. It is not out of the question that some stray Polynesian voyagers could have reached the west coast of the Americas, but I am not aware of any definite evidence, genetic or otherwise, that they actually did so. However, it is extremely unlikely that any such castaways would have made a significant genetic contribution to a groups in the West Indies, which would have been very far from any potential landfall. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/4 "2004-01-16T17:26:16Z")
In addition to the good points made, above, there is also the point that the Europeans were inordinately “successful” in destroying the Araw(a)ks. I suspect that it would be extemely difficult to find a person who was anywhere close to being “pure” Arawk. (There might be a somewhat greater number in the rainforests of South America, but the number who suvived in the Caribbean basin is vanishingly small.) With any “mixture” of traits, we will probably find features that seem to have distant origins. (I am not challenging the honesty of the woman who so identified herself, but I do suspect that she has a more varied family tree than she has been given to know.) ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/5 "2004-01-17T00:09:41Z")
I saw a PBS science program a few years ago, (the name escapes me, the host was Chinese-Canadian) based on the claim that South American had a substantial population before the Bering Strait migrations. This population, according to the program, had its origins in the Pacific Islands(Melanesia) and Africa, and was driven out/wiped out by the migrants who were the ancestors of present day Amerindian peoples. A surviving remnants of this pre Bering Strait population were found in modern Patagonia, now so mixed with the Amerindian population as to be physically indistinguishible. I thought the claim was strange, having never heard it before, and having heard nothing of it since. Has it been proven completely false? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/6 "2004-01-17T01:20:51Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > I saw a PBS science program a few years ago, (the name escapes me, the host was Chinese-Canadian) based on the claim that South American had a substantial population before the Bering Strait migrations. That would be David Suzuki (Japanese-Canadian). > [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > This population, according to the program, had its origins in the Pacific Islands(Melanesia) and Africa, and was driven out/wiped out by the migrants who were the ancestors of present day Amerindian peoples. A surviving remnants of this pre Bering Strait population were found in modern Patagonia, now so mixed with the Amerindian population as to be physically indistinguishible. > > I thought the claim was strange, having never heard it before, and having heard nothing of it since. Has it been proven completely false? Well, the migration out of SE Asia was impressive. Crossing vast areas of open ocean to reach the various islands of the different \*nesias. I don’t know if the site being discussed was Monte Verde or not. I have not heard that SA was colonized in this manner before the Bering crossing. That would mean that South America was reached before both Hawaii and Easter Island, which may have been possible but IMO, a freak incident. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/7 "2004-01-17T01:39:10Z")
:smack: Thanks for the correction. What I found fascinating about the program was that it examined a series of cave paintings in a jungle (Brazil, Peru?). What seemed at first to be a series of separate paintings was found to be a stop action narration of someone being killed by a spear. Supposedly the victim of the spear attack was a member of the pre Bering population, and the attacker was one of the migrants. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/8 "2004-01-17T01:43:43Z")
IIRC, the scientists interviewed for the show were Latin American, either Brazilian or Argentinean. Maybe their research has not been publicized or recognized as valid in NA. ---
**Author:** ![boofy\_bloke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@boofy\_bloke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofy_bloke)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/9 "2004-01-18T03:36:58Z")
Check out this to find out where the polynisians came from: [Link](http://obviousreason.typepad.com/o/2003/09/alchohol_gene_t_1.html). ---
**Author:** ![Strychnos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Strychnos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strychnos)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/10 "2004-01-20T11:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] It is not out of the question that some stray Polynesian voyagers could have reached the west coast of the Americas, but I am not aware of any definite evidence, genetic or otherwise, that they actually did so. Apparently there is an Asiatic species of human-parasitic hookworm that has been found in several pre-Columbian South American archeological sites. The paper I read stated that it’s impossible that the tropical hookworm species would’ve survived the slow migration through the arctic Bering Strait region (Ferreim, L.; Aruajo, A.; & Confalonieri, U. 1988: _Paleoparasitologia no Brasil_. Rio de Janeiro. Manguinhos. There are tons of more easily disputed evidence of South East Asian populations reaching the New World in prehistorical times, as well ( crop plants, striking racial similarities, longhouses on piles, blowgun technology, ritual headhunting etc. etc.) ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/11 "2004-01-21T07:41:32Z")
I have just finished “1421 - The Year China Discovered the World” by Gavin Menzies ([http://www.1421.tv/](http://www.1421.tv/)) which has some convincing stuff in it plus too many of sentences which start, “it can at least be argued…” I searched for any 1421 threads in SD without success so apologies if this is too much of a hjack. Anyway the book contains much about the propagation of SE Asian and specifically Chinese plants and animals (the Asian chicken apparently found throughout South/Central America and the Caribbean for one). But the author cited that one of the strongest areas of evidence was recent DNA studies that allegedly showed such a strong affinity with the Chinese, and specifically those of the part of China that the voyages departed from, that in many areas of the West Coast of the Americas and both coasts of South America the people could be better described as Chinese. This suggests a strong effect on the current population from supposed survivors of shipwrecks - which I found rather unbelievable to arise from the voyage of one mass armada however big. IIRC the same DNA evidence allegedly denied the Polynesian or Melanesian peoples any substantial influence on the populations of the Americans. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/12 "2004-01-21T14:44:43Z")
Short version: Menzies is an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/13 "2004-01-21T15:53:08Z")
Thank you **Smiling Bandit** that was so helpful. :rolleyes: If I can struggle through 500-odd pages of his book I think you could risk trying me with your slightly longer version… I guess I had better start a new thread - would appreciate you dropping in and dumping on Menzies. I’m a sceptic but some of the stuff (charts and Chinese-Peru link) seemed persuasive on the face of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-arawak-indians-polynesians/224758/14 "2004-01-21T19:46:09Z")
> [@notquitekarpov](#): > > I’m a sceptic but some of the stuff (charts and Chinese-Peru link) seemed persuasive on the face of it. Usually, the attempt is to connect northern Peru with Japan based on stylistic similarities found in pottery.