Analysis of the spatial and temporal structure of global island colonization allows us to frame the extent of insular human cultural diversity, model the impact of common environmental factors cross-culturally, and understand the contribution of island maritime societies to big historical processes. No such analysis has, however, been undertaken since the 1980s. In this paper we review and update global patterns in island colonization, synthesizing data from all the major island groups and theaters and undertaking quantitative and qualitative analysis of these data. We demonstrate the continued relevance of certain biogeographic and environmental factors in structuring how humans colonized islands during the Holocene. Our analysis also suggests the importance of other factors, some previously anticipated—such as culturally ingrained seafaring traditions and technological enhancement of dispersal capacity—but some not, such as the relationship between demographic growth and connectivity, differing trophic limitations impinging on colonizing farmers versus hunter-gatherer-foragers, and the constraining effects of latitude. We also connect colonization with continental dynamics: both the horizontal transmission of farming lifestyles earlier in the Holocene, and subsequent centrifugal processes associated with early state formation later in the Holocene.

对全球岛屿殖民的时空结构的分析使我们能够了解岛屿人类文化多样性的范围，跨文化地模拟共同环境因素的影响，并了解岛屿海洋社会对重大历史进程的贡献。然而，自 20 世纪 80 年代以来，还没有进行过此类分析。在本文中，我们回顾和更新了岛屿殖民化的全球模式，综合了所有主要岛屿群和地区的数据，并对这些数据进行了定量和定性分析。我们证明了某些生物地理和环境因素在构建全新世期间人类如何殖民岛屿方面的持续相关性。我们的分析还表明了其他因素的重要性，其中一些因素是先前预料到的，例如文化上根深蒂固的航海传统和分散能力的技术增强，但另一些因素则不然，例如人口增长和连通性之间的关系、对殖民农民与猎人的影响的不同营养限制-采集者-觅食者，以及纬度的限制效应。我们还将殖民化与大陆动态联系起来：全新世早期农业生活方式的水平传播，以及与全新世后期早期国家形成相关的随后的离心过程。