Melanesian mythology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)

Melanesian mythology is a European way of referring to the custom stories of the world area known since the 19th century as "Melanesia", an umbrella term used for the archipelagos of New Guinea, the Torres Strait Islands, the Admiralty Islands, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu. In this geographical area are approximately one quarter of all the languages spoken on earth, and many diverse and disparate peoples with little in common except inhabiting what to Westerners appears to be one place, the so-called "Melanesia".

The various villages, language groupings and ethnic groupings may be interlocking in some areas, but in general the region is so diverse culturally as to make generalizations about "mythology" or anything else as meaningless as so-called "African mythology".

[edit] Sources

• "Melanesian culture." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 4 July 2006 <http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9117353>.
• "Kanaka Christianity" Believing in Australia - a history of religion in Australia, Hilary Carey, Allen & Unwin. © Hilary Carey 1996, MacquarieNet 2002 (online edition).