Origins of the Pacific
The Pacific is a place of mystery and savagery, and yet is know to many as paradise. The Pacific is ten thousand miles wide and holds twenty-three percentage of the world's languages. What makes the Pacific so intriguing? The people and their culture have mystified so many people, and yet their history was never written down, instead it was orally pasted down from generation to generation. Thoughts on the natives' origin, migration, and survival have puzzled other nations due to their lacking of western technology, for example the compass. So the question is: Where did they come from? and How did they get there? In this essay, we will examine these questions and try to seek out the answers.
In the search for these answers we mush first take a guess on how they arrived on these islands. Jacob Roggeveen thought that the Spaniards might have brought them to the islands, but they lacked any Spanish influence. Then he thought perhaps the "islanders might be direct descendants of Adam and Eve, who had bred there naturally from generation to generation, but finally decided that the ability of human understanding is powerless to comprehend how these people ever reached the island.
Another view was by Andrew Sharp, his hypothesis states "the islands of Polynesia had been settled accidentally by hapless canoe voyages driven randomly across the sea by stormy westerly winds. Wherever one of these lost canoes, or others containing people forced to flee their home islands because of war, famine or overpopulation, were randomly pushed by wind current onto the shore of an uninhabited island, a new Polynesian colony would result." These guesses were good yet they lacked strong evidence. So the search continues an...
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...nd sacrifices. They were aristocratic people, with marriages only within your own rank.
All the research that were done by these explorer and scholars have help the Pacific define their origin, which has allowed the Island people to have a sense of belonging, and pride for what their ancestor have achieved. You can see how joyful the Polynesians were when the Hokule'a landed in Tahiti: "they even adopted a double canoe motif inspired by Hokule'a as their symbol of nationhood, placing it in the center of their new flag and in Hawai'i the voyage is credited with helping to spark a cultural renaissance".
In conclusion, we come to realize that Polynesian celestial navigation and migrations from the west are the key points of Pacific history. Without the research and realizations of these facts, questions of origin and the sense of belonging would still linger.
Often times, the history that is being told is one of Hawaiian weakness, and defeat. The Bayonet Constitution of 1887, the Overthrow of 1893, and the Annexation of 1898, are all often used as examples of moments of powerlessness in the Hawaiian Kingdom. What about all history prior to, in between, and after, these major dates? Surely, it did not just disappear. In the last few decades, Hawaiian history has changed dramatically due to the works of many Hawaiian historians. The history that was lost has been found, and new discoveries are still being made. Hawaiʻi’s history is a story of resistance, pride, and unity. Included within this history is a man named Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox. Wilcox was a revolutionist, and a leader, but he enjoyed being a politician the most. Wilcox was the beacon of hope that helped guide the people of Hawaiʻi through darkness. Wilcox was and still is today a symbolic figure in Hawaiʻi’s political history.
Chinese Laborers have rarely been credited to the work that they did on the Central Pacific. What wasn’t widely admitted, but probably well know, was the fact that the Central Pacific line wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the heroic feats that the Chinese laborers performed.
The Hawaiian culture is known throughout the western world for their extravagant luaus, beautiful islands, and a language that comes nowhere near being pronounceable to anyone but a Hawaiian. Whenever someone wants to “get away” their first thought is to sit on the beach in Hawai’i with a Mai tai in their hand and watch the sun go down. Haunani-Kay Trask is a native Hawaiian educated on the mainland because it was believed to provide a better education. She questioned the stories of her heritage she heard as a child when she began learning of her ancestors in books at school. Confused by which story was correct, she returned to Hawai’i and discovered that the books of the mainland schools had been all wrong and her heritage was correctly told through the language and teachings of her own people. With her use of pathos and connotative language, Trask does a fine job of defending her argument that the western world destroyed her vibrant Hawaiian culture.
By analyzing the Kawaiisu, a Great Basin Native tribe, I want to explore cultural wonders and observe their society as I compare an aspect of interest with that of another culture in the world, the Chuuk. Comparing different societies of the world will allow me to successfully learn about the Kawaiisu people in a more detailed and open minded manner. Populations all around the world throughout time have had different views and traditions of beliefs. Through this project, I hope to unravel and gain an understanding of different perspectives and ways of life.
This exotic culture was hidden from the world until 1778, when Captain James Cook and his men became the first westerners to discover the islands of Hawaii. When they arrived at Kaua’i, the islanders performed the hula dance as a way of greeting the strangers.
Between the years 300BC-400BC, a group of inhabitants landed ashore the island of Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. Once ashore, these settlers began collecting resources and learned to survive with no help from the outside, stranded on an island in the middle of the Pacific. They created methods to hunt, fish, make clothing, and cook food properly. In addition, the people of Rapa Nui also separated into different groups or tribes. These tribes coexisted on the island for some time – until civil wars broke out across the island. The inhabitants of Rapa Nui disappeared from the island without a trace. The cause of their disappearance is unknown although experts believe the inhabitants of Rapa Nui were irresponsible with their resources.
...an immensely impressive fleet. There is no doubt they were able to travel past Sumatra, India, Iran and the coast of Africa so the same question asked regarding the Polynesians appears, Why would they just stop there? Moreover, there is a map showing the entire world fairly accurately that was drawn in 1763, whose maker wrote that he had copied it from a map drawn in 1418 A.D., centuries earlier. This map and the claim attached to it has not been proven as of yet, however, if it is authentic it would be the first map of the world.
Ii, John Papa., Mary Kawena Pukui, and Dorothy B. Barrère. Fragments of Hawaiian History. Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1983. Print.
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.
Along with encapsulating the culture in her writing, she also documented the effect and growth of globalization. The original goal of Ward was to examine the language, norms, values, and attitudes of this group to obtain survey results related to Pohnpeians’ low blood pressure. Not only did she successfully study her original goals, she also made conclusions about effects of recent colonization on a marine tropical island. Ward delivers a strong foundation from which present-day anthropologists can follow in their
The Polynesian peoples have a lifestyle quite different than that of any other culture, as living on an island requires a level of flexible adaptability in order to cope with such a different, sometimes difficult environment. We see the way diverse cultures build their lives around their circumstances and how they respect them in their cultural myths and stories. The Polynesian legends emphasize the physical environment that they live in. They are quite different than any other region in the world, but the beauty and individuality of the Polynesian culture is prominent as seen in their mythology.
Gordon accurately depicts the varied and vibrant Asian culture, by showing the reader this world instead of simply describing it. Each of the men whom Gordon uses to tell the story undertakes expeditions which are mixed with hardships and triumphs. The varied spectrum of Asian cultures is covered. Readers will find Gordon’s take on tackling this topic fresh and straightforward.
A small archipelago off the northwest coast of Britsh Columbia is known as the “islands of the people.” This island is diverse in both land and sea environment. From the 1700’s when the first ship sailed off its coast and a captain logged about the existence, slow attentiveness was given to the island. Its abundance, in both natural resources physical environment, and its allure in the concealed Haida peoples, beckoned settlers to come to the island. Settlers would spark an era of prosperity and catastrophe for the native and environmental populations.
...nicity and the primitive’s cosmos: Chronoscopes of desire in travel writing about Korowai of West Papua. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 21(1), 1-21.