Adventure Ausrama Blog

Vanuatu ancestors were from Taiwan and the Philippines. A discovery has sent shock waves through anthropology. The ancestors of Vanuatuans were put in the pot of Pacific Islanders. People of this island do not look like Asians. However, DNA tests on the oldest skeletons found show that the island's first arrivals came from the Philippines and Taiwan only 3,000 years ago. It seems that Australian Aboriginals and New Guineans were not keen to venture out onto the high sea, though Pacific islands were much closer to them than it was for Southeast Asians. Scientists say Papuans moved their later to produce the modern Vanuatuan gene pool. There is a problem here. Combining the facial features of say Filipinos and Papuans does not produce modern Vanuatuans.  There was earlier movement westward across the large ocean of people from South America. Pacific islanders of South American descent obviously arrived in Vanuatu at some time. ◆ Antrhopology by Ty Buchanan ...

As developing countries become more developed with rising incomes and better health care so the birthrate is falling. Taiwan is a case in point. They are worrying now about how the large proportion of elderly people in the country will be cared for. Taiwanese couples only have one child, currently. In China with the one-child policy the birthrate is higher than Taiwan's 0.91 per cent. This country has the Western "disease" of very expensive housing and wives finding it necessary to work to pay for a home. The date for having children is put off virtually indefinitely. Like in other "advanced" countries the blame is being laid on the government's failure to provide healthcare. The propensity to allocate responsibility on government is a mistake. Unless healthcare is treated as unskilled labor it will remain expensive, Surely any responsible parent would not leave their children in the care of second-class workers? Taking care of young children, particularly b...