 Austronesians were the first humans to invent ocean-going sailing technologies, which allowed them to colonize a large part of the Indo-Pacific region.Prior to the 16th century Colonial Era, the Austronesian language family was the most widespread language family in the world, spanning half the planet from Easter Island in the eastern Pacific Ocean to Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean.It is spoken today by about 386 million people (4.9% of the global population), making it the fifth-largest language family by number of speakers.