Question

Two centuries later a global network of geneticists analyzing DNA bread-crumb trails of modern human migration would prove Cook right: Tupaia’s ancestors had colonized the Pacific 2,300 years before. Their improbable migration across the Pacific continued a long eastward march that had begun in Africa 70,000 to 50,000 years earlier. Cook’s journey, meanwhile, continued a westward movement started by his own ancestors, who had left Africa around the same time Tupaia’s ancestors had. In meeting each other, Cook and Tupaia closed the circle, completing a journey their forebears had begun together, so many millennia before.

A. They established a close friendship that was unlikely because they were from such different cultures.
B. Their ancestors left Africa at the same time and migrated to different places, but more migration led Cook and Tupaia to be in the same spot.
C. Studying the DNA of Cook and Tupaia proved to geneticists that they were related.
D. They made a circular journey, stopping at all the major islands until they returned to Tahiti.

Answer 1

James Cook and Tupaia represent a symbolic meeting of Eastern and Western human migratory patterns that began tens of thousands of years ago. Aboriginal Australians migrated over 40,000 years ago, while the Americas were populated later via the Bering Land Bridge and coastal paths. Genetic studies disprove the European-origin Solutrean hypothesis in favor of Asian migrations.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question pertains to the historical migration patterns of human populations. Around 40,000 years ago, Aboriginal people migrated to Australia from mainland Asia, while other migrations were taking place globally. James Cook, a European explorer, made contact with the peoples of Polynesia, many millennia after his and their ancestors had left Africa. This event symbolically closed a loop of human migration.

Theories about the peopling of the Americas indicate that early humans arrived via the Bering Land Bridge around 20,000 to 14,000 years before present (BP) and possibly followed coastal migration routes. Subsequent migrations to the Pacific Islands occurred through seafaring abilities. Genetic studies have consistently shown that the first inhabitants of the Americas were from Asia, debunking alternative theories like the Solutrean hypothesis which suggested a European origin.