The word 'overwhelming' in the passage is closest in meaning to READ THE PASSAG E. THEN ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. GIVE YOURSELF 20 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THIS PRACTICE SET. THE ORIGIN OF THE PACIFIC ISLAND PEOPLE THE GREATER PACIFIC REGION, TRADITIONALLY CALLED OCEANIA, CONSISTS OF THREE CULTURAL AREAS: MELANESIA, MICRONESIA, AND POLYNESIA. MELANESIA, IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, CONTAINS THE LARGE ISLANDS OF NEW GUINEA, THE SOLOMONS, VANUATU, AND NEW CALEDONIA. MICRONESIA, THE AREA NORTH OF MELANESIA, CONSISTS PRIMARILY OF SMALL SCATTERED ISLANDS. POLYNESIA IS THE CENTRAL PACIFIC AREA IN THE GREAT TRIANGLE DEFINED BY HAWAII, EASTER ISLAND, AND NEW ZEALAN D. BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS, THE ISLANDS IN THE TWO LARGEST CULTURAL AREAS, POLYNESIA AND MICRONESIA, TOGETHER CONTAINED A POPULATION ESTIMATED AT 700,000. SPECULATION ON THE ORIGIN OF THESE PACIFIC ISLANDERS BEGAN AS SOON AS OUTSIDERS ENCOUNTERED THEM; IN THE ABSENCE OF SOLID LINGUISTIC, ARCHAEOLOGICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL DATA, MANY FANCIFUL AND MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE THEORIES WERE DEVISE D. PACIFIC ISLANDERS WERE VARIOUSLY THOUGHT TO HAVE COME FROM NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, EGYPT, ISRAEL, AND INDIA, AS WELL AS SOUTHEAST ASIA. MANY OLDER THEORIES IMPLICITLY DEPRECATED THE NAVIGATIONAL ABILITIES AND OVERALL CULTURAL CREATIVITY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDERS. FOR EXAMPLE, BRITISH ANTHROPOLOGISTS G. ELLIOT SMITH AND W. J. PERRY ASSUMED THAT ONLY EGYPTIANS WOULD HAVE BEEN SKILLED ENOUGH TO NAVIGATE AND COLONIZE THE PACIFI C. THEY INFERRED THAT THE EGYPTIANS EVEN CROSSED THE PACIFIC TO FOUND THE GREAT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE NEW WORLD(NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA). IN 1947 NORWEGIAN ADVENTURER THOR HEYERDAHL DRIFTED ON A BALSA-LOG RAFT WESTWARD WITH THE WINDS AND CURRENTS ACROSS THE PACIFIC FROM SOUTH AMERICA TO PROVE HIS THEORY THAT PACIFIC ISLANDERS WERE NATIVE AMERICANS(ALSO CALLED AMERICAN INDIANS). LATER HEYERDAHL SUGGESTED THAT THE PACIFIC WAS PEOPLED BY THREE MIGRATIONS: BY NATIVE AMERICANS FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OF NORTH AMERICA DRIFTING TO HAWAII, BY PERUVIANS DRIFTING TO EASTER ISLAND, AND BY MELANESIANS. IN 1969 HE CROSSED THE ATLANTIC IN AN EGYPTIAN-STYLE. REED BOAT TO PROVE EGYPTIAN INFLUENCES IN THE AMERICAS. CONTRARY TO THESE THEORISTS, THE OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, LINGUISTICS, AND ARCHAEOLOGY SHOWS THAT THE PACIFIC ISLANDERS CAME FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA AND WERE SKILLED ENOUGH AS NAVIGATORS TO SAIL AGAINST THE PREVAILING WINDS AND CURRENTS. THE BASIC CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SUCCESSFUL COLONIZATION OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS INCLUDE THE APPROPRIATE BOAT-BUILDING, SAILING, AND NAVIGATION SKILLS TO GET TO THE ISLANDS IN THE FIRST PLACE; DOMESTICATED PLANTS AND GARDENING SKILLS SUITED TO OFTEN MARGINAL CONDITIONS; AND A VARIED INVENTORY OF FISHING IMPLEMENTS AND TECHNIQUES. IT IS NOW GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT THESE PREREQUISITES ORIGINATED WITH PEOPLES SPEAKING AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES(A GROUP OF SEVERAL HUNDRED RELATED LANGUAGES)AND BEGAN TO EMERGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA BY ABOUT 5000