Spread across nearly 2,000,000 square miles of the South Pacific, in an area as large as the continent of Europe, lies the Territory of French Polynesia and its principal island, Tahiti.
Settlers from Southeast Asia are thought to have first arrived in the Marquesas Islands, in the northeastern part of what is today called French Polynesia, around 300 AD and in the Society Islands, including Tahiti, to the west by about 800 AD. Prior to the first European contact, the islands were ruled by a hierarchy of hereditary tribal chiefs.
The first Europeans to visit the area were the English explorers Samuel Wallis in 1767 and James Cook in 1769. French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville arrived in 1768 and claimed the islands for France. In the late 1700s occasional ships arrived in the islands, most notably the H.M.S. Bounty in 1788, captained by William Bligh.
The first missionaries, from the London Missionary Society, arrived in the islands in 1797. By 1815, with the support of the most powerful ruling family in the islands, the Pomares, the British missionaries had secured a strong influence in much of the Society Islands, doing everything possible to eliminate traditional Polynesian culture by barring traditional dance and music as well as destroying carvings and temples associated with native religion.
The French continued to hold influence over the Marquesian Archipelago and eventually were successful in expelling the British and securing influence over much of what today constitutes French Polynesia, leaving the ruling Pomare family as little more than figureheads.
In 1880, King Pomare V was forced to abdicate, and a French colony was proclaimed. By 1901, the colony included the Austral Islands, the Gambier Archipelago, the Marquesas Islands, the Society Islands and the Tuamotu atolls to the southeast. The first half of the twentieth century saw periods of nationalistic protest in the colonies which were by then called the Établissements français d'Océanie (French Pacific Settlements).
It was not, however, until after World War II, when Tahitians who had served France returned home, that pressure forced the French government to extend French citizenship to all islanders. The first territorial assembly was established in 1946, and by 1949 the islands obtained representation in the French Assembly.
In 1957, the territory was officially renamed the Territory of French Polynesia. The Republic of France is represented in the territory by a high commissioner appointed by the Republic. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, limited autonomy was granted to the territorial government to control socioeconomic policy but not defense, law and order, or foreign affairs.
Captain James Cook and his crew came to Hawaii in 1778. Bringing along many diseases such as, syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, and viral hepatitis.(Blaisdell, p.44) Native Hawaiians were not immune to these diseases, they were unable to be cured therefore died and a massive depopulation occurred. An estimated 500,000 Hawaiians were living in Hawaii before Western Contact, and in 1878 less than 45,000 Hawaiians remained.(Trask, p.10). With the rapid decrease of Hawaiians, also came the fact that their culture was in danger.
During the 1600s the Portuguese, the English, and the French, successful or not, tried to colonize Madagascar. This was the first attempt of any kind to penetrate Madagascar. In 1869 the French attained and expanded their political influence in Madagascar. In 1896, after a native rebellion they won the French achieved control and made all of Madagascar a French colony.
In October of 1492, when Christopher Columbus stepped foot on the Island of Bahamas thinking it was Asia he was instantly greeted by the Arawak’s who came barring gifts, food and water.
Before the Europeans sailed between the two regions (1000 AD) Squash and sweet potatoes were present in both South America and Polynesia. There is also biological evidence supporting this theory. Scientists discovered and ran tests on chicken bones from Samoa and from Southern Chile. They found that the bones consisted of the same DNA sequence which suggests that Polynesian chickens were introduced in the fourteenth century in South America. That being said, there has been no evidence showing that Polynesian people stayed for extended periods of time in South America or vice versa. This suggests that the meetings between the two regions were brief and did not take place all that often. (Imagina Easter
Power is something all European countries wanted in the late 1800’s. One of the ways countries showed power was through the amount of land they had. This thirst for land was called imperialism, as strong European countries would take over smaller, weaker countries in order to gain more land, and gain more power. The Berlin Conference held in Germany in 1884-1885, divided Africa so imperialistic European countries could gain control of different regions of this immense continent with no African representative present. The imperialism of Africa entailed the dominance over all aspects of a country, in an economic, political, and social way (Beck, 687-8). With better technology and weaponry, European nations had no problem is swiftly taking over the African colonies (notes). The land was divided amongst European countries, not caring about the many Africans that would be negatively affected by this colonization. The racism European nations felt towards the African colonies allowed Africa to be exploited for both human and natural resources (Brown 219). One of the African colonies that were negatively affected was Madagascar. The English originally controlled Madagascar, but relinquished their control to France at the Berlin Conference and French colonized Madagascar in the late 1800's to early 1900's (Western Indian Ocean). After France gained the new African colony, the French took complete control over all aspects of Malagasy life through political, social, and economic means. France completely rearranged the Malagasy’s system of government and disbanded the groups the Malagasy separated themselves into. The French also forced taxes upon the Malagasy, and restricted trade with other countries. To gain total control France control...
Political institutions drastically changed after independence of French rule. The most obvious variation between French ruled St. Domingue and Haitian ruled Haiti is that Haitians now ruled their own land that they had forcibly labored on for almost one-hundred years. After autonomy and freedom from the French, native-born occupants of the island and native-Africans could finally rule themselves. This is a major institutional change because now the rulers of Haiti could cater to their own needs and they proved that blacks could form a working government. Another significant transformation to the government was that it became an empire, not a colony under the Republic of France. As an independent empire the country now answered to itself and its emperor, rather than a king in a country 4,500 miles away. This allowed for the new empire to develop its own culture instead of trying to adapt
Almost a decade later in 1871, the first of the Christian Missionary teachers arrived at Erub (now Darney Island), placed there by the London Missionary Society (Nakata, 2007) with the aim to use Torres Strait as a stepping-stone to evangelise New Guinea (RACGP, 2012).
The Hawaiian language may have been influenced by from a South Pacific Polynesian language, most likely Tahitian or Marquesan. The Marquesans took over the Hawaiian islands around AD 300, and Tahitian peoples immigrated to Hawaii. The unification of the Hawaiian and Tahitian languages may have resulted into the development of the Hawaiian language. The word “Hawaiian” takes its name from the big island of Hawaii, which was explored by the British settler Captain James Cook. He wrote the name of the island as “Owhyhee.” Upon his arrival in Hawaii in 1778, he hoped to induce linguistic, educational, and cultural influences to the inhabitants of Hawaii. After Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii, others followed him, such as missionaries from the United States. In the early 19th century, the missionaries from the United States wanted to educate the Hawaiians, and had to translate the spoken Hawaiian language into a written form. Hiram Bingham, one of the missionaries that arrived in Hawaii noticed that “Hawaiians struggled with the very different sound patterns of English: a plethora of consonant clus...
The territory finally became a state in 1959, just ahead of Hawaii. Now, Hawaii is an archipelago, a chain of islands, located in the Central Pacific. Unlike Alaska, annexing Hawaii was due to United States imperialism. Around the middle 1800s, American began to migrate to the islands of Hawaii to start businesses, especially with sugarcane and pineapple. At that time, the islands were ruled by Queen Liliuokalani in a monarchy.
Today most experts believe that Easter Island was first settled by Polynesians looking for a new homeland. About 1680 A.D, the quality of life on the island began to decrease. At this time, clan rivals erupted in a bloody battle between long ears and shorts ears. This destruction of the islands natural resource undoubtedly contributed to its decline.
Initially it was Spanish territory, but the French and English also assumed control of the island at various points in history. Pirates and privateers used the island as a safe refuge to restock their supply of fresh water and supplies(Hartog, 55).
Politically, prior to 1961 the British ruled over Tanganyika. Many of the Maasai people were not completely aware of British government because they maintained rule over themselves. Tepilit depicts a political scene where his father had no idea that the British ruled over Tanganyika. The Maasai were unaware because of the subtle way that the British used the chiefs to create and carry out the policies that the British wanted. This method of government, constructed in such a way led Tepilit’s father to be ignorant of the leadership until it ended in 1961. Tepilit’s father, however, was correct on a smaller scale because Maasailand was not under direct influence of the British rule. Tepilit even states that one Maasai rule infers that if direct interference occurs then “Rebellion would be inevitable” (Saitoti 41).
It is inspiring to think of how much water the Polynesians covered in the Pacific, over one million square miles, in a time frame of about 1000 years. Some members of the modern Hawaiian community were so impressed that they established the Polynesian Voyaging Society in 1973. They did some voyages throughout the Pacific without the help of instruments for scientific research and education. The topic was so interesting to so many people throughout the South Pacific that the voyages became more about recovering culture and about teaching the art of wayfinding so that it is not lost in time.
The island was first discovered by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1494 and became a colony of Spain in 1509. They founded the town now known as Spanish Town and it was the capital of the island until the 1800s. Under the Spanish, the native Arawak Indians died out because of slavery and disease, and Africans were brought in to work in their place. The Spanish ruled the country until 1655 when Sir William Penn of the British captured the colony by force. It was later tuned over legally under the Treaty of Madrid in 1670(Jamaica).
ordinary difficulties for the families who live on these post-colonial islands. It can be argued that all