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Mata Austronesia is a collection of illustrated stories told by Austronesians past and present -- an (ethno) graphic novel. Mata, the word for "eye" in numerous Austronesian languages, represents the common origin of the many distinctive Austronesian peoples spread throughout their vast oceanic realm. The tales in this book immerse us in the beauty of this shared heritage, ancestral memory, and cultural legacy.. Millennia before the first Europeans ventured into the Pacific, Austronesian explorers sailing aboard their outrigger and double-hulled voyaging canoes had already found, settled, and succeeded in thriving on thousands of islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. From Madagascar to Rapa Nui, Austronesia is a diverse, complex, and extensive ethnolinguistic region stretching across more than half of the Earth's saltwater expanse.