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A radio interview

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Outlook - Moana: The Polynesian family behind the smash hit songs - BBC Sounds

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Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

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The Beginning: Tatau in Samoa

Your necklace may break, the fau tree may burst, but my tattooing is indestructible. It is an everlasting gem that you will take into your grave.

Verse from a traditional tattoo artist's song
The legacy of Polynesian tattoo began over 2000 years ago and is as diverse as the people who wear them. Once widespread in Polynesian societies across the Pacific Ocean, the arrival of western missionaries in the 19th century forced this unique art form into decline. Despite the encroachment of Christian religious beliefs that vilified tattooing as unholy, many Polynesian tattoo artists maintained their vital link to their culture's history by preserving their unique craft for generations.

In Samoa, the tradition of applying tattoo, or tatau, by hand has been unbroken for over two thousand years. Tools and techniques have changed little. The skill is often passed from father to son, each tattoo artist, or tufuga, learning the craft over many years of serving as his father's apprentice. A young artist-in-training often spent hours, and sometimes days, tapping designs into sand or barkcloth using a special tattooing comb, or au. Honoring their tradition, Samoan tattoo artists made this tool from sharpened boar's teeth fastened together with a portion of the turtle shell and to a wooden handle.

Samoan society has long been defined by rank and title, with chiefs ( ali'i) and their assistants, known as talking chiefs ( tulafale), descending from notable families in the proper birth order. The tattooing ceremonies for young chiefs, typically conducted at the onset of puberty, were elaborate affairs and were a key part of their ascendance to a leadership role. The permanent marks left by the tattoo artists would forever celebrate their endurance and dedication to cultural traditions. The pain was extreme and the risk of death by infection was a great concern. But to shy away from tattooing was to risk being labeled a pala'ai or coward and reviled by the clan. Those who could not endure the pain and abandoned their tattooing were left incomplete, wearing their mark of shame throughout their life.

The pain was extreme and the risk of death by infection was a great concern. But to shy away from tattooing was to risk being labeled a coward.
There were few Samoan men who refused the traditional pe'a, an intricate tattoo that covered their body from mid-torso to the knees. The artist would use a mallet to tap the teeth of the ink-laden comb into the men's flesh, following only simple guide marks.

A tattooing session typically lasted until dusk or until the men could not longer stand the pain and would resume the following day, unless the inflamed skin needed a few days to heal. The entire process would often last almost three months. Afterwards, the men's family helped him celebrate, despite his pain, by throwing a party, and the tufuga smashed a water vessel at his feet, marking the end of the ordeal.

The healing process would take months. The tattooed skin would have to be washed in salt water and massaged to work out the impurities. Friends and family would assist the men, since even simple tasks like walking or sitting would irritate their inflamed skin and cause great pain. Within six months, the distinctive designs would begin to appear on their skin but it would take almost a year to completely heal.

Women too endured tattooing, but their patterns were typically smaller, most often on the thighs, legs or on their hands. Tattoos on the hands, called lima, were required to be able to serve kava, a narcotic drink made from the root of the kava shrub, during ceremonial occasions. Doing so was one of the greatest honors in Samoan culture.

Christian missionaries from the west attempted to purge tattooing among the Samoans, thinking it barbaric and inhumane. Many young Samoans resisted mission schools since they forbade them to wear tattoos. But over time attitudes relaxed toward this cultural tradition and tattooing began to reemerge in Samoan culture.

In many traditional pe'a, a boat sits atop the overall design. It symbolizes the ocean voyage that brought the original people to Samoa and carried their ancestors to lands beyond the horizon. As they sailed away from Samoa to distant shores, they took with them their long heritage of tattoo artistry.

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The Beginning: Tatau in Samoa Your necklace may break, the fau tree may burst, but my tattooing is indestructible. It is an everlasting gem that you will take into your grave. Verse from a traditional tattoo artist's song The legacy of Polynesian tattoo began over 2000 years ago and is as diverse as the people who wear them.

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This article will give you an in-depth look into Polynesian Tattoo Art

What is Polynesian Tattoo Art?

The History of Polynesian Tattoo

The Process, Main Focus and Tradition

Designs, Symbols and Meanings

Source: The Polynesian Tattoo Handbook

The origins of Polynesian society

There is still debate over the definitive origins of Polynesian culture and that transfers also, to the notion of tattooing.

One thing that is certain is that the term Polynesian or Polynesia incorporates many tribes including Marquesans, Samoans, Niueans, Tongans, Cook Islanders, Hawaiians, Tahitians and Maori. All of these tribes are genetically linked to the indigenous peoples from parts of Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia and in turn, Polynesia are sub-regions of Oceania, comprising of a large grouping of over 1000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean, within a triangle that encompasses New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island as it's corners.

The people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs.

However, Polynesian languages may actually vary slightly from each other, and in some cases they actually differ quite significantly. There are some words, which are basically the same throughout all Polynesian languages, reflecting the deepest core of all Polynesian cultures. Moana (ocean) and mana (spiritual force and energy) are two terms that transcend all Polynesian cultures.

These words are rather similar and this reflects how closely related Polynesian cultures are with the ocean, as they believe that the ocean guarantees life.

The Origins of Tattoo Art in Polynesia

Historically there was no writing in Polynesian culture so the Polynesian's used tattoo art that was full of distinctive signs to express their identity and personality. Tattoos would indicate status in a hierarchical society as well as sexual maturity, genealogy and ones rank within the society. Nearly everyone in ancient Polynesian society was tattooed.

The Polynesian islands that were first first visited were the Marquesas Islands, which were found by European explorers and the Spanish navigator, Alvaro de Mendana de Neira, in 1595. However, the European navigators showed little interest due to the lack of valuable resources.

Captain James Cook (as mentioned in our comprehensive guide to Maori tattooing) was the first navigator trying to explore the aforementioned Polynesian triangle.

In 1771, when James Cook first returned to Tahiti and New Zealand from his first voyage, the word "tattoo" appeared in Europe. He narrated the behaviours of the Polynesian people in his voyage, which he called tattaw. He also brought a Tahitian named Ma'i to Europe and since then tattoo started to become rapidly famous, predominently because of the tattoos of Ma'i.

Another legend is that European sailors liked the Polynesian tattoos so much that they spread extremely fast in Europe because the sailors emblazoned the tattoos on their own bodies.

The actual tradition of Polynesian tattooing existed more than 2000 years ago, however in the 18th century the Old Testament strictly banned the operation. Since it's renaissance in the 1980s, many lost arts were revived but it became very difficult to sterilise the wooden and bone tools that were used for the tattooing process so the Ministry of Health banned tattooing in French Polynesia in 1986.

The revival of the art and practice of tattooing, particularly in Tonga, in recent years is predominantly referred to as a result of the work of scholars, researchers, visual artists and tattoo artists.

Tonga and Samoa

It was in Tonga and Samoa that the Polynesian tattoo developed into a highly refined art. Tongan warriors were tattooed form the waist to the knees with a series of geometrical patterns, mostly consisting of repeated triangle motifs, bands and also areas of solid black.

Priests who had undergone a long period of training who followed strictly prescribed rituals and taboos that took place during the tattooing process. For the Tongan people, the tattoo carried profound social and cultural significance, as mentioned previously.

In ancient Samoa, tattooing also played a hugely important role in both reglious rituals and warfare. The tattoo artist held a hereditary and by the same vein, a very highly privileged position. He usually tattooed groups of six to eight (usually men) during a ceremony attended by friends and relatives. The Samoan warrior's tattoo began at the waist and extended to just below the knee.

However, it was not unusual for Samoan women to be tattoo too. But the images were limited to things such as a series of delicate flower-like patterns (usually geometrical), on the hands and lower parts of the body.

Around 200AD voyageurs from Samoa and Tonga settled in the area of Marquesas. Over a period of more than 1000 years one of the most complex Polynesian cultures evolved - Marquesan.

Marquesan Art

Marquesan art and architecture were highly developed and Marquesan tattoo designs, which often covered the whole body, were the most elaborate in Polynesia.

Tools of the trade

Although many years have passed, the tools and techniques of Polynesian tattooing have changed very little. For a very traditional design the skill of tattoo art was usually handed down through generations. Each tattoo artist, or tufaga, was said to have learned the craft over many years of serving as an apprentice.

The advent of Christianity in Tonga witnessed the loss of several indigenous practices such as the practice of tattooing. Although the art of tattooing was retained in the nation if Samoa, it was completely erased in Tonga.

In Samoa, the tradition of applying the tattoo by hand has been unbroken for over 2000 years. Tools and techniques have hardly differed whatsoever. The skill is often passed from father to son, each artist learning the art after many years of serving as an apprentice.

A young artist in training often spent hours at a time, or even days, tapping designs into sand or bark-cloth using a special tattooing comb or au. Honouring their highly revered tradition, Samoan tattoo artists made this tool from sharpened boars teeth fastened together with a portion of the turtle shell and to a wooden handle.

Pain

The permanent marks left on someone after they have been tattooed would forever remember and commemorate their endurance and dedication to cultural traditions. The pain was extreme and the risk of death by infection was a huge concern for many people. However, to shy away from tattooing was to risk being labeled a coward or a pala'ai and to then be hated and insulted by the rest of the tribe or clan. The men who could not endure the pain and abandoned their tattooing were left incomplete, wearing their mark of shame throughout their life.

There were few men who refused the traditional pe'a, the intricate tattoo that covered their body from mid-torso to the knees. The artist would use a mallet to tap the teeth of the ink-laden comb into the man's flesh, following only simple marks as guidelines.

A tattooing session typically lasted until dusk or until the men could no longer stand the pain and would resume the following day, unless the inflamed skin needed a few days to heal. The entire process could last up to three or even four months. Afterwards, the man's family would help him to celebrate, despite the pain, by throwing a party and the tufuga smashed a water vessel at his feet, marking the end of the painful ordeal.

The healing process

This process usually took months. The tattooed skin would have to be washed in salt water, to keep infection at bay and then the body area had to be massaged to keep out impurities. Family and friends would assist in the healing process because even extremely simple tasks e.g. walking and sitting, could irritate the inflamed skin and cause great pain. Within six months, the distinctive designs would begin to appear on their skin but it would take almost a year to completely heal.

Placement on the body

Placement on the body plays a very important role in Polynesian tattooing. There are a few elements that are related to specific meanings based on where they are placed. So in short, their placement has an influence on the meaning of a Polynesian tattoo.

Humans are said to be descendants or children of Rangi (Heaven) and Papa (Earth), which were said to once be united. Man's quest in Polynesian legend is to find that union again, so the body is seen as a link between Rangi and Papa. The upper part of the body is related to the spiritual world and heaven, whilst the lower part of the body is related to the world and to earth.

The placements of some elements on the body, such as genealogy tracks on the back of the arms, suggest that the back may be related to the past and the front to the future.

Gender-wise, left is usually associated with women and the right to men.

1. Head

The head is said to be the contact point to Rangi, and so is related to themes such as spirituality, knowledge, wisdom and intuition.

2. Higher trunk

This area is from just above the navel to the chest and is related to themes such as generosity, sincerity, honour and reconciliation. Some may have noticed that this area is placed directly between Rangi and Papa, in order to have harmony between them balance must exist in this area.

3. Lower trunk

This area goes from the thighs to the navel. This part of the body directly relates to life's energy, courage, procreation, independence and sexuality. In particular, thighs relate to strength and marriage. The stomach or mid area, is where mana originates form and the navel represents independence due to the symbolic meaning associated to the cutting of the umbilical cord.

Independence is a trait that is valued highly in Polynesian society (as in most others), however individualism is not. All people depending on the sea for sustenance know the important of sociality and socialising. Polynesian people built their culture around this. Family thus becomes a larger group of people that includes all relatives, friends and neighbours, all of which play an important role.

A famous word to define this larger family, comes from Hawaii, the word is 'Ohana which indicates the familiar group of people who cooperate in the growing, teaching and feeding of children.

4. Upper arms and shoulders

The shoulders and upper arms above the elbow are associated with strength and bravery and they relate to people such as warriors and chiefs. The Maori word kikopuku used to designate this part of the union of the words kiko (flesh, body) and puku (swollen). Puku as a prefix or suffix is also used as an intensifier of the word it qualifies, enforcing the idea of strong arms.

5. Lower arms and hands

From below the elbow, the same word is used to refer both to arm and hand. This part of the body relates to creativity, creation and making things.

6. Legs and feet

The same word is used to refer both to leg and foot. Legs and feet represent moving forward, transformation and progress. They are also related to separation and choice. The feet, being our contact with Papa, Mother Nature, are also related to concreteness and material matters.

Joints

Joints often represent union, contact. If we look at the body as a reflection of society, we can understand why joints, being the points where different bones meet, represent different degrees of relation between individuals: the farther from the head (the chief of the family) the greater the distance in kinship, or the lower the status. Ankles and wrists represent a tie and bracelets placed there often symbolise commitment. Knees are often related to chiefs (to kneel before them).
Side note:
Traditional positioning should not keep you from placing your tattoos on any part of the body you may feel appropriate for you: we believe a design should be meaningful to his owner before anyone else.

Polynesian images and motifs

1. Enata (singular)

Human figures, otherwise known as enata in Marquesan language, represent men, women and sometimes gods. They can be placed within a tattoo to represent people and their relations. If they are placed upside down then they can be used to represent defeated enemies. This is one example of the Enata in its singular form.

2. Enata (pattern)

Over-stylised enata joined together in a row of people holding hands form the motif called ani ata, which translates to "cloudy sky".
Polynesian languages and a row of enata in a semi-circular form often represent the sky as well as the ancestors guarding their descendants.

3. Shark teeth (simplified)

Shark teeth or niho mano deserve a space of their own. Sharks are one of the favourite forms that aumakua choose to appear to man. They represent protection, guidance and strength as well as fierocity however, they are also symbols of adaptability in many cultures. This is an example of simplified shark teeth.

4. Shark teeth (complex)

Below are stylisations of shark teeth, in their more complex form as they may be seen in a tattoo.

5. Spearhead

Another classic symbol that is used to represent the warrior nature is the spear. Spear-heads are very symbolic in relation to sharp items too and they can be used to represent the sting of some animals.

6. Spearhead (pattern)

Often, this is stylised as a row of spear-heads, below is one variant.

7. Ocean (simplified)

The ocean is a second home to Polynesian people and the place of rest when they leave for their last voyage. Coincidentally, turtles are said to join the departed guiding them to their destinations. So sometimes, the ocean can be used to represent death and the beyond. Since the ocean is the primary source of food, it is no wonder it impacts so much tradition and myth. All the creatures living in the ocean are associated with several meanings, usually mutated from their characteristic traits and habits. The ocean and the sea can be represented by waves. Here is the simplified version.

8. Ocean

The stylisations of the ocean can often represent ideas such as life, change and continuity through change. Waves can also be used to represent the world beyond or the place where the departed go and rest on their last voyage.

9. Tiki

One meaning of the word tiki is figure, so tiki is the name given to human-like figures that usually represent semi-gods as opposed to atua, who usually appear to men under the shape of animals such as lizards.

The tiki can also represent deified ancestors, priests and chiefs who became semi-gods after their passing. They symbolise protection, fertility and they serve as guardians.

By stylizing the figure over and over there has been a simplified version that has been reached, called the "brilliant eye" where the eyes, nostrils and ears appear to be the prominent elements.

Here is an example of a tiki face

10. Tiki eyes

Tiki figures can be portrayed in a front view (sometimes with their tongue stretched out as a symbol of defiance to enemies). Here is a close up of one of the most important elements of the tiki, the eyes.

11. Turtle

The turtle or honu is another important creature throughout all Polynesian cultures and has been associated with several meanings. The first being the fact that turtles symbolise health, fertility, longevity in life, foundation, peace and rest.

The word hono, meaning turtle in Marquesan language, has other meanings which encompass things such as joining and stitching together families and representing the idea of unity.

Contrary to what is sometimes believed, turtles drawn upwards do not imply that they are taking the soul of a dead person into the other world. To represent this, a human figured must be placed on or near the shell of the turtle.

12. Turtle (shell pattern)

Other patterns can be derived by the inlay of the shell, this is one example of a shell-stylisation...

13. Lizard

Lizards and geckos are often called mo'o or moko and they play an important role in Polynesian myth. Gods (atua) and minor spirits often appeared to men in the form of lizards and this may explain why the stylised element used to represent the lizard is very similar to the stylised symbol used to represent man.
Lizards are very powerful creatures who bring good luck, communicate between the humans and the gods and who can access the invisible world. On the other hand, they can also bring death and bad omens to people who are disrespectful.

14. Lizard (pattern)

This is a pattern or stylisation of the lizard symbol, and as mentioned above it does look rather similar to the human-form stylisation (enata).

15. Stingray

Stingray tattoos come in several variations and styles, the image can hold symbolic meanings. The stingray has the ability to hide in the underwater sands, mainly from sharks and is able to cover up with sand and lay still. Most sharks can sense prey in the sand based on movement but for the most part the stingray is able to hide and for this reason, it's image is classed as a symbol of protection. Other themes that go hand in hand with the sting-ray image are adaptation, gracefulness, peacefulness, danger, agility, speed and stealth.

We specialise in Polynesian and Maori Tattoo Artwork

If you'd like to see more of our polynesian work, head on over to our Polynesian Tattoo Gallery or contact us to talk about your ideas!

Source: The Polynesian Tattoo Handbook

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Polynesian Tattoo: History, Meanings and Traditional Designs

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This article will give you an in-depth look into Polynesian Tattoo Art What is Polynesian Tattoo Art? The History of Polynesian Tattoo The Process, Main Focus and Tradition Designs, Symbols and Meanings Source: The Polynesian Tattoo Handbook There is still debate over the definitive origins of Polynesian culture and that transfers also, to the notion of tattooing.

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Australian Aboriginal peoples, one of the two distinct groups of Indigenous peoples of Australia, the other being the Torres Strait Islander peoples.

It has long been conventionally held that Australia is the only continent where the entire Indigenous population maintained a single kind of adaptation- hunting and gathering-into modern times. Some scholars now argue, however, that there is evidence of the early practice of both agriculture and aquaculture by Aboriginal peoples. This finding raises questions regarding the traditional viewpoint that presents Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples as perhaps unique in the degree of contrast between the complexity of their social organization and religious life and the relative simplicity of their material technologies. (For a discussion of the names given to the Indigenous peoples of Australia, see Researcher's Note: Britannica usage standards: Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia.)

Prehistory

It is generally held that Australian Aboriginal peoples originally came from Asia via insular Southeast Asia (now Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, and the Philippines) and have been in Australia for at least 45,000-50,000 years. On the basis of research at the Nauwalabila I and Madjedbebe archaeological sites in the Northern Territory, however, some scientists have claimed that early humans arrived considerably sooner, perhaps as early as 65,000 to 80,000 years ago. That conclusion is consistent with the argument made by some scholars that the migration of anatomically modern humans out of Africa and adjacent areas of Southwest Asia to South and Southeast Asia along the so-called Southern Route predated migration to Europe. Other scholars question the earlier dating of human arrival in Australia, which is based on the use of optically stimulated luminescence (measurement of the last time the sand in question was exposed to sunlight), because the Northern Territory sites are in areas of termite activity, which can displace artifacts downward to older levels.

In either case, the first settlement would have occurred during an era of lowered sea levels, when there were more-coextensive land bridges between Asia and Australia. Watercraft must have been used for some passages, however, such as those between Bali and Lombok and between Timor and Greater Australia, because they entail distances greater than 120 miles (200 km). This is the earliest confirmed seafaring in the world. By about 35,000 years ago all of the continent had been occupied, including the southwest and southeast corners ( Tasmania became an island when sea levels rose sometime between 13,500 and 8,000 years ago, thus isolating Aboriginal people who lived there from the mainland) as well as the highlands of the island of New Guinea. Archaeological evidence suggests that occupation of the interior of Australia by Aboriginal peoples during the harsh climatic regime of the last glacial maximum (between 30,000 and 18,000 years ago) was highly dynamic, and all arid landscapes were permanently occupied only roughly 10,000 years ago.

The dingo, a type of wild dog, appeared in Australia only 5,000 to 3,000 years ago, which postdates the time that Aboriginal people began hafting small stone implements into composite tools some 8,000 years ago. Whereas the dingo was introduced from Southeast Asia, the small implements appear to be independent inventions from within Australia. Within the past 1,500-3,000 years, other important changes occurred at the general continental level: population increases, the exploitation of new habitats, more efficient resource exploitation, and an increase in the exchange of valued items over wide areas.

There is evidence for complex social behaviours much earlier, however, including cremation before 40,000 years ago, personal ornamentation (shell beads) by 30,000 years ago, and long-distance trade in objects before 10,000 years ago. It has not yet been ascertained whether there were single or multiple waves of migration into Australia, although recent genetic evidence indicates multiple donor groups, whether from a single heterogeneous migration or multiple waves. While there is no doubt that only anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) have ever occupied Australia, skulls found in the southeast suggest to some the existence of two distinct physical types. However, most now accept that there was a wide range of variation in pre-European populations. It has also been argued that one group on the Murray River practiced a form of cosmetic cranial deformation that led to their different appearance. Some have posited that Aboriginal cultures have one of the longest deep-time chronologies of any groups on Earth.

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Australian Aboriginal peoples | History, Facts, & Culture

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Survey of the history, society, and culture of the Australian Aboriginal peoples, who are one of the two distinct Indigenous cultural groups of Australia. It is generally held that they originally came from Asia via insular Southeast Asia and have been in Australia for at least 45,000-50,000 years.

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An Aboriginal academic has accused publisher Harper Collins of gross cultural insensitivity over a new book which includes didgeridoo lessons for girls.

The publishing house is preparing to release an Australian version of an American book called The Daring Book for Girls.

"We present stories and projects galore, drawn from the vastness of history, the wealth of girl knowledge, the breath of sport and the great outdoors," an excerpt of the book reads.

But the general manager of the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association, Dr Mark Rose, says the publishers have committed a major faux pas by including a didgeridoo lesson for girls.

Dr Rose says the didgeridoo is a man's instrument and touching it could make girls infertile, and has called for the book to be pulped.

"I would say from an Indigenous perspective, an extreme mistake, but part of a general ignorance that mainstream Australia has about Aboriginal culture," he said.

"We know very clearly that there is a range of consequences for females touching a didgeridoo, it's men's business, and in the girls book, instructions on how to use it, for us it is an extreme cultural indiscretion."

Dr Rose says the consequences for a girl touching a didgeridoo can be quite extreme.

"It would vary in the places where it is, infertility would be the start of it ranging to other consequences," he said.

"I won't even let my daughter touch one.... as cultural respect. And we know it's men's business.

"In our times there are men's business and women's business, and the didgeridoo is definitely a men's business ceremonial tool."

Dr Rose fears the inclusion of the didgeridoo lesson in the book sends out a "tokenistic" message about Aboriginal culture.

"That's the issue that perturbs me the greatest," he said.

Harper Collins has defended the book, saying it is not convinced it will offend all Australian Aborigines.

But Dr Rose says the issue should be taken more seriously.

"That would be, I guess, the words of a publisher that wants to protect its bottom line," he said.

"In fact I would say it is a cultural indiscretion and I'm perturbed that they are taking the matter so flippantly."
*Adapted from an AM report by Simon Lauder.

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An Aboriginal academic has accused publisher Harper Collins of gross cultural insensitivity over a new book which includes didgeridoo lessons for girls. The publishing house is preparing to release an Australian version of an American book called The Daring Book for Girls.

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Traditional Didgeridoo Rhythms by Lewis Burns, Aboriginal Australian Artist

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HAKA TIME | Top 5 Hakas from New Zealand in Rugby 🙌

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Where Cultures Collide | Polynesian Tattoo

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In Polynesian cultures, tattoos are an ancient custom used to signify rites of passage.

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In the mid-1970s, a handful of visionaries built a twin-hulled Hawaiian voyaging canoe, with the plan to sail it to Tahiti and back without the aid of map, compass or modern instruments of any kind. The voyage would serve as living proof that Polynesian people had not populated the Pacific by accident, as many academics theorized at the time, but purposefully.

The canoe was ready, the crew prepared. They lacked only a navigator capable of guiding the craft 2,300 nautical miles from Hawaii to Tahiti. That knowledge, passed down through the generations for centuries, had been lost. The would-be voyagers scoured the Pacific for someone who carried the ancient knowledge. No one in Polynesia-a swath of ocean spanning 3,000 miles, from Hawaii to Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Rapa Nui (Easter Island), with Tahiti roughly in the center-possessed the knowledge anymore to guide the canoe to Tahiti in the old way, without modern instruments.

The search eventually led them 4,000 miles west, to the tiny Micronesian island of Satawal and its most skilled navigator, Pius "Mau" Piailug. Born in 1932, Mau was chosen by his grandfather as an infant to become a traditional wayfinder. In the early 1950s, when Mau was about 20, he was initiated as a Pwo navigator, or Palu, a great honor that came with the solemn responsibility to provide for the village, and to preserve and hold close the wayfinding knowledge on which the entire community relied.

Some sources say he earned the name Mau, meaning strong or hard in the Satawalese language, because he was constantly at sea, even in bad weather. Others said the name came from his short and powerful physique, with ridges of muscle in his back that resembled the rough shell of a hawksbill turtle. As a young man he voyaged throughout the Caroline Islands and never lost his way, though the reports a typhoon once left him shipwrecked on an uninhabited island for seven months. He was by all accounts tough, headstrong, and fearless. "Mau would never allow himself to doubt his decisions and navigational tactics," recalled his nephew, Tom Raffipiy.

Satawal is a speck in the sea, a half-mile long and a mile wide. Its reef doesn't produce enough fish to support the people who live there, so islanders must travel over the horizon to fish hidden reefs and uninhabited atolls. To trade or visit other islands-the nearest of any size is Chuuk, more than 300 miles away-requires longer voyages. In sailing canoes, without the benefit of compass or chart, let alone GPS, such travel requires great skill and knowledge. But when Mau was a young man, motorboats came to the island and began to fundamentally change the role of navigators. People began to lose interest in the art.

Mau was the youngest Palu in Micronesia, and by 1976 he seemed destined to be the last. He worried that the art of wayfinding would die with him. That's when the Hawaiians came calling.

The voyage they envisioned from Hawaii to Tahiti was beyond even Mau's vast knowledge, but he was confident he could make the journey. "If I have courage it is because I have faith in the knowledge of my ancestors," he said, though if his forefathers ever sailed to Hawaii or Tahiti, they didn't tell of it in their songs and stories. But those who knew Mau also say he loved a challenge.

Guiding the voyaging canoe Hokule'a to Tahiti was a bold act, not only as a test of navigation and seamanship, but it would eventually put Mau at odds with his own people. Much of the knowledge he passed to Hawaiians was closely held, to be shared only with a chosen few within the home islands. But Mau decided that preserving the navigational knowledge was a higher calling than keeping it in the family.

He guided Hokule'a on its month-long journey from Maui to Tahiti in 1976, almost always seated in the same spot on the canoe, aiming toward an image of the island he kept in his head. He seemed never to sleep, synthesizing hundreds of data points-not only the rising and setting of stars, but also the movement of the sun and clouds, wind and swell, fish and birds. Two thousand miles after leaving Maui, he watched a flight of terns wing past Hokule'a toward an unseen island. The next day Mataiva Atoll rose out of the sea to greet the canoe. When they reached Tahiti days later, 17,000 people-fully half the island's population-greeted them.

The voyage sent a shock of pride through the Pacific. Mau was less impressed. On the voyage a schism had grown in the crew between those who viewed the journey as a kind of scientific experiment, and others who regarded it more as an adventure and cultural experience. The conflict led to a breakdown of discipline and an exchange of blows.

Mau was disgusted. As the celebrations continued in Tahiti, he tape-recorded instructions for how to sail back to Hawaii, vowed never to voyage again with Hawaiians, and slipped away. Hokule'a returned to Hawaii using modern instruments.

A second voyage in 1978, also without Mau, ended in tragedy. The canoe launched from Honolulu in 30-knot trades as an 8-10 foot Northeast swell funneled through the Kaiwi Channel between the islands of Oahu and Molokai. The canoe had sailed in such conditions before, but now it was heavily loaded with fresh water and provisions. The leeward hull filled with water and the canoe capsized just after sunset.

The 16 crewmembers gathered on the overturned hulls. With no working radio onboard, no one knew the canoe had met with disaster just 12 miles offshore. The next morning Eddie Aikau went to summon hope. Aikau was a legend in surfing circles, an archetypical Hawaiian waterman who in 10 years as a lifeguard on Oahu's North Shore had participated in about 500 rescues. If anyone was capable of paddling a dozen miles to shore on a surfboard, it was Aikau. He paddled away in the direction of Lanai and was never seen again.

An airline pilot later spotted the overturned canoe, and the others were rescued after about 24 hours in the water. Hokule'a was recovered and repaired. A third voyage was planned for early 1980 with a man named Nainoa Thompson as navigator. But as the departure drew nearer the young Hawaiian was still unsure of his skills.

Working at the University of Hawaii, Nainoa had reconstructed a 32-point star compass. He knew where the stars rose and set, and, in theory, how to use that knowledge to navigate vast tracts of ocean as his Hawaiian ancestors had. But he'd joined the Hokule'a in Tahiti after Mau had left the canoe, and missed the opportunity to learn from him.

The solution was obvious. Nainoa had to find Mau and convince him to share his knowledge. He tracked the navigator down on the island of Saipan and flew there to make his pitch. Mau was noncommittal.

"Mau is a man of few words, and all he said in answer to my plea for help was, 'We will see. I will let you know,'" Nainoa recalled. Months later Mau gave his answer. "He said, 'I will train you to find Tahiti because I don't want you to die,'" Nainoa said. "He had heard somehow that Eddie had been lost at sea."

Thus began a partnership that ultimately revived traditional wayfinding traditions in Hawaii and across the Pacific.

"When Nainoa was able to work with Mau and saw his star compass, it just reconfirmed that Nainoa had basically reinvented that system," said Chad Kalepa Baybayan, a master navigator who voyaged with both men. "Nainoa had the math and science, whereas Mau's was a system that was passed down from generation to generation."

When they began to work together, Nainoa asked Mau to teach him in the traditional way. The older man refused. "You get paper and pencil," he said. There was too much to commit to memory, and the knowledge was encoded in songs and stories in the Satawalese language, which Nainoa doesn't understand. Mau delivered his lessons in simple, effective English. Nainoa wrote them down.

"Mau's greatness as a teacher was to recognize that I had to learn differently," Nainoa said. Mau's style of wayfinding combined deep knowledge of the sea and the heavens with a lifetime of practical experience. It was a holistic system, dead reckoning raised to a fine art.

Mau would draw a circle in the sand, and mark the stars with stones or shells. Palm fronds represented the canoe and swell direction. Bits of string marked the path of the stars across the sky. The models made intuitive sense to Nainoa, trained from his school days to read words, maps, and graphs. Other skills were more difficult to convey.

"The hardest for me was to learn to read the ocean swells the way he can," Nainoa said. "Mau is able to tell so much from the swells-the direction we are traveling, the approach of an island. But this knowledge is hard to transmit. We don't sense things in exactly the same way as the next person does."

One day near the end of 1979, Nainoa went with Mau to the Lanai Lookout on Oahu. Mau asked Nainoa to point in the direction of Tahiti. Nainoa pointed. Then he asked, "Can you see the island?"

Tahiti was more than 2,200 miles away. Nainoa thought before answering.

"I cannot see the island but I can see an image of the island in my mind," he said at last.

"Good," said Mau. "Don't ever lose that image or you will be lost."

In 1980, Nainoa guided Hokule'a to Tahiti and back again, using the traditional wayfinding techniques he had helped to recover. Mau sailed as an observer.

From 1985-87 Hokule'a sailed 12,000 miles throughout Polynesia, traveling as far as New Zealand and inviting people from other Polynesian islands to join the crew for portions of the voyage. On a night passage to the island of Nomuka in Tonga, professional Tongan sea captain Sione Taupeamuhu expressed his doubts that Nainoa could find the island without the aid of instruments. When the island appeared on the horizon at dawn, Taupeamuhu said, "Now I can believe the stories of my ancestors."

Mau, sailing again as an observer, looked on.

Thanks in no small part to Mau, Hokule'a and the Polynesian Voyaging Society sparked a resurgence of interest in traditional navigation throughout the Pacific. When Hokule'a and two other Hawaiian canoes returned to Tahitian waters in 1995 they were joined by voyaging canoes from other Polynesian islands. This time Nainoa was the observer. His apprentices guided the canoes from Hawaii, and their apprentices navigated the last leg from the Tuamotus to Tahiti.

Soon enough, the revival led back to Satawal. In 2007 a group of friends spearheaded by navigator Shorty Bertelmann built a Hawaiian-style voyaging canoe and sailed it 4,000 miles to Satawal to present to Mau. The canoe is called Maisu, a Satawalese word for breadfruit that has fallen to the ground in a storm, and is thus free for anyone to take. The name is a metaphor for the voyaging knowledge that Mau shared so freely. The canoe now resides on the island of Yap where it serves as a floating classroom for Micronesian navigators.

On that visit, Mau inducted 16 people into the Pwo brotherhood. The honorees, anointed with yellow turmeric and adorned with garlands of flowers, included five Hawaiians, among them Nainoa, Baybayan, and Bertelmann. The ceremony was the first on Satawal since Mau's own induction 56 years before.

Mau died three years later, in 2010, but the wayfinding tradition he vowed to protect lives on.

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Mau Piailug, One of the Last Wayfinders, Followed the Stars to Tahiti

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In the mid-1970s, a handful of visionaries built a twin-hulled Hawaiian voyaging canoe, with the plan to sail it to Tahiti and back without the aid of map, compass or modern instruments of any kind. The voyage would serve as living proof that Polynesian people had not populated the Pacific by accident, as many academics theorized at the time, but purposefully.

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On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the US Pacific Fleet. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war. Japan launched a relentless assault that swept through the US territories of Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines, as well as British-controlled Hong Kong, Malaya, and Burma. Yet, with much of the US fleet destroyed and a nation unprepared for war, America and its allies decided they needed to save Great Britain and defeat Germany first.

The Japanese, meanwhile, sought to complete what they began at Pearl Harbor. They aimed to destroy the US carrier fleet in a victory so decisive that the United States would negotiate for peace. With its battleship fleet crippled in Hawaii, the US Navy turned to two surviving assets. Aircraft carriers and submarines mounted a serious challenge to Japan's triumphant fleet and were critical to protecting mainland America. But as US attacks on Japanese naval forces and merchant ships escalated from isolated raids to full-scale battles, the learning curve proved costly and deadly.

Blunting the Japanese Onslaught
Throughout the winter and spring of 1942 the war news reaching the United States from the Pacific was grim. The Japanese amassed a vast new empire with a defensive perimeter that ranged from western Alaska to the Solomon Islands. In the southwest Pacific, Japan threatened American supply lines to Australia, complicating US plans to use Australia as a staging ground for offensive action.

But within months, the tide of battle started to turn as the United States and its allies in Australia and New Zealand first blunted Japan's advance and then began a long counterattack across the Pacific. The amphibious invasion soon became the hallmark of the Allied counterattack. As they advanced westward toward Japan, Allied forces repeatedly bombed and stormed Japanese-held territory, targeting tiny islands as well as the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines. The goal was to dislodge the enemy and to secure airfields and supply bases that could serve as the launching points for future attacks.

Turning Points
In early May 1942, US and Japanese carrier forces clashed in the Battle of the Coral Sea. While both sides suffered major losses, the US Navy checked a major Japanese offensive for the first time. Then, in the Battle of Midway the following month, US carrier aircraft dealt a devastating blow to the Japanese navy, destroying four aircraft carriers. The battle marked the first major US victory against Japan and was a turning point in the war.
By shifting the balance of naval power in the Pacific, Midway allowed US forces to take the offensive for the first time. The Allies soon set their sights on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and on New Guinea.

Amphibious Invasions and Island Hopping
In August 1942, the United States mounted its first major amphibious landing in World War II at Guadalcanal, using innovative landing craft built by Higgins Industries in New Orleans. By seizing a strategic airfield site on the island, the United States halted Japanese efforts to disrupt supply routes to Australia and New Zealand. The invasion ignited a ferocious struggle marked by seven major naval battles, three major land battles, and almost continuous air combat as both sides sought to control Henderson Field, named after Loy Henderson, an aviator killed at the Battle of Midway. For six long months US forces fought to hold the island. In the end they prevailed, and the Allies took the first vital step in driving the Japanese back in the Pacific theater.

With Guadalcanal in American hands, Allied forces continued to close in on Rabaul in New Britain. As forces under the command of Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey moved north through the Solomons, General Douglas MacArthur's troops pushed west along the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, grinding out a hard-fought victory by March 1943. But rather than follow this success with a risky invasion of the heavily defended Rabaul, American military planners hatched an ingenious plan: Allied planes and ships would isolate and neutralize Rabaul from the air and sea while the bulk of MacArthur's forces pushed westward to invade less-well-defended islands. This practice-skipping over heavily fortified islands in order to seize lightly defended locations that could support the next advance-became known as island hopping. As Japanese strongholds were isolated, defenders were left to weaken from starvation and disease. This new strategy turned the vast Pacific distances into an American ally, and the United States used it to leapfrog across the Pacific.

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Advancing on Two Fronts
In addition to hopping from one less-defended island to another, the Allies' Pacific strategy developed another key feature: soldiers, sailors, and US Marines pressed forward on two fronts. As MacArthur's troops leapt from island to island in the southwest Pacific, a central Pacific campaign began with the invasion of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943. By the end of the year, a two-pronged assault on Japan was well underway.

As 1944 began, the southwest Pacific was largely under Allied control. By February, the Allies were also making progress in the central Pacific. Naval and air strikes reduced most of the Japanese bases throughout the area, and after several intense, bloody campaigns, most of the central Pacific was secure. As the islands in the Marshall and Mariana chains fell to US Army and Marines forces by that summer, troops constructed airfields in preparation for air strikes on Japan itself. The Marianas were a particularly valuable asset since they were close enough to Japan for the United States' new, technologically advanced B-29 bombers to reach the mainland.
As the United States geared up for this aerial bombardment of Japan, military leaders lobbied to continue their campaigns in the southwest and central Pacific. In the southwest, General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz pushed for an assault on the Philippines, while in the central Pacific, Admiral Ernest J. King pressed for an attack on Formosa (now Taiwan).

The Attack On Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941

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The Pacific Strategy, 1941-1944 | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

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On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the US Pacific Fleet. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war.

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Along U.S. coastlines, from California to Florida, residents are getting increasingly accustomed to "king tides." These extra-high tides cause flooding and wreak havoc on affected communities. As climate change raises sea levels, they are becoming more extreme.

King tides are nothing new for the Marshall Islands, a nation made up of 29 low-lying coral atolls that stretch across more than a million square miles of Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia. By 2035, the U.S. Geological Survey projects that some of the Marshall Islands will be submerged. Others will no longer have drinking water because their aquifers will be contaminated with saltwater. As a result, Marshallese would be forced to migrate away from their homelands.

This scenario is not inevitable. As part of our research on climate justice, we visited the Marshall Islands and interviewed leaders and community organizers in 2018 and 2019. We learned that large-scale adaptation measures that could save both these and other islands are still possible, and that Marshallese leaders are committed to adapting in place. But their nation's colonial history has made it hard for them to act by leaving them dependent on foreign aid. And, to date, outside funders have been unwilling or unable to invest in projects that could save the nation.

Most of the world's other island nations share similar colonial histories and face comparable climate challenges. Without swift and dramatic adaptation, entire island nations could become uninhabitable. For the Marshall Islands, this is expected to occur by midcentury.

A radioactive legacy

The Marshall Islands were settled at least 2,000 years ago and fell under colonial rule during the 19th century. The U.S. captured the islands during World War II and became colonial administrator through the United Nations, accepting " sacred trust " obligations to protect the health and welfare of the Marshallese people and promote their political and economic self-determination.

Instead, from 1946 to 1958, the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons on inhabited Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, forcing these and other exposed communities to evacuate their homelands. Thousands of Marshallese remain in exile to this day, largely on tiny islands that are extremely climate-vulnerable or in the United States. Others have returned to their atolls, where radioactive fallout still contaminates the land. All of those exposed to radiation continue to face long-term health risks.

The Marshall Islands gained sovereignty in 1986. But the U.S. retains full authority and responsibility for " security and defense matters in or relating to the Marshall Islands," including the right to use Marshallese lands and waters for military activities.

Moreover, while the islands were a U.S. trust territory, the United States did not foster a self-sufficient economy. Instead, it injected large amounts of aid under the assumption that the islands were, in the words of Pacific scholar Epeli Hau'ofa," too small, too poor and too isolated to develop any meaningful degree of autonomy." The bulk of this aid went toward providing social services rather than promoting economic development, resulting in an economy based almost entirely on financial transfers from the U.S.

It's not rocket science

What options does the Marshall Islands have for protecting its citizens from climate change? When we met with former National Climate Advisor Ben Graham in 2019, he told us that it will take "radical adaptation" to remain in place.

To control flooding driven by rising seas, the nation would need to reclaim and elevate land and consolidate its population in urban centers. Doing so is "not rocket science," Graham told us. "China is building islands by the acre every day, Denmark is planning to construct nine artificial islands. ... It's not new, but it is expensive."

According to Graham, implementing the forthcoming National Adaptation Plan will cost on the order of US$1 billion. That's money the country doesn't have.

But one atoll is likely to be saved: Kwajalein, which is occupied by the U.S. military. Already, the U.S. has made substantial investments to understand how sea level rise is affecting its military assets on Kwajalein.

Radical adaptation or forced migration?

Like most island states, the Marshall Islands relies heavily on external funding, often from former colonial administrators. Outside aid, primarily from organizations like the World Bank and donor countries like the U.S. and Australia, accounts for more than 25% of its gross domestic product, which in 2018 was $221.3 million.

These funders exert outsized control over the development agendas of the nations they support, including the power to decide which climate change adaptations are appropriate. In particular, funders tend to impose strict social and environmental safeguards, which limit the range of adaptation options the Marshall Islands and other aid-dependent sovereigns can pursue.

To date funders have only supported small-scale short-term projects, such as flood warning systems and improvements to tidal forecasting. And many have come to view migration as a suitable alternative to the type of large-scale adaptation that would allow nations to survive and people to live and thrive in their homelands. As Ben Graham put it to us, "there are those who say ... your population is too small to spend half a billion dollars on it. Just relocate. It's not worth keeping your culture and your sovereign status."

But international law indicates that funders should not have the power to decide whether sovereign nations can survive climate change. The international norm of self-determination requires that decision to lie with the affected nation and its people. Yet unless the status quo is changed, the Marshallese face a forced migration caused by outside powers, just as they did 74 years ago as a result of U.S. nuclear weapons testing.

Island climate justice leaders

The Marshallese face overwhelming challenges, but they are not passive victims. The Marshall Islands was the first nation to increase its greenhouse gas reduction pledge under the Paris Agreement. Its representatives have served as tireless advocates for climate action and human rights on the international stage. And the Marshall Islands spearheaded the successful campaign to include a " well-below 2 degrees" warming target in the Climate Accords.

But they can't fight alone. The nation's president, David Kabua, recently called upon wealthy nations to live up to their Paris Agreement commitments to reduce emissions and mobilize the funding that vulnerable nations need to survive.

[ Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week. Subscribe to The Conversation's science newsletter.]

For years, the U.S. and other developed nations have failed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions quickly enough to meet targets in the Paris climate agreement that are intended to avoid warming on a catastrophic scale. They have also failed to meet their pledges to help vulnerable states adapt to climate change. The U.S., meanwhile, has refused to provide over $2 billion that an independent nuclear claims tribunal awarded to the Marshall Islands as compensation for damage caused by nuclear testing.

The Biden administration has a chance to change course. We believe that the U.S. should provide direct support for Marshallese climate adaptation efforts. This would help to redress the long history of use and abuse, broken promises, and unfulfilled obligations that has left the Marshall Islands so exceptionally climate-vulnerable today.

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Marshall Islands could be wiped out by climate change - and their colonial history limits their ability to save themselves

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Along U.S. coastlines, from California to Florida, residents are getting increasingly accustomed to "king tides." These extra-high tides cause flooding and wreak havoc on affected communities. As climate change raises sea levels, they are becoming more extreme.

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Editor's Note: This article, published in the May 1959 issue of Scientific American, is a supplement to the 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago column in the May 2009 issue.

Patrols of the Australian Government venturing into the "uncontrolled" central highlands of New Guinea in 1946 found the primitive people there swept up in a wave of religious excitement. Prophecy was being fulfilled: The arrival of the Whites was the sign that the end of the world was at hand. The natives proceeded to butcher all of their pigs-animals that were not only a principal source of subsistence but also ,symbols of social status and ritual preeminence in their culture. They killed these valued animals in expression of the belief that after three days of darkness "Great Pigs" would appear from the sky. Food, firewood and other necessities had to be stock-piled to see the people through to the arrival of the Great Pigs. Mock wireless antennae of bamboo and rope had been erected to receive in advance the news of the millennium. Many believed that with the great event they would exchange their black skins for white ones.

This bizarre episode is by no means the single event of its kind in the murky history of the collision of European civilization with the indigenous cultures of the southwest Pacific. For more than 100 years traders and missionaries have been reporting similar disturbances among the peoples of Melanesia, the group of Negro-inhabited islands (including New Guinea, Fiji, the Solomons and the New Hebrides) lying between Australia and the open Pacific Ocean. Though their technologies were based largely upon stone and wood, these peoples had highIy developed cultures, as measured by the standards of maritime and agricultural ingenuity, the complexity of their varied social organizations and the elaboration of religious belief and ritual. They were nonetheless ill prepared for the shock of the encounter with the Whites, a people so radically different from themselves and so infinitely more powerful. The sudden transition from the society of the ceremonial stone ax to the society of sailing ships and now of airplanes has not been easy to make.

After four centuries of Western expanSion, the densely populated central highlands of New Guinea remain one of the few regions where the people still carry on their primitive existence in complete independence of the world outside. Yet as the agents of the Australian Government penetrate into ever more remote mountain valleys, they find these backwaters of antiquity already deeply disturbed by contact with the ideas and artifacts of European civilization. For "cargo" -Pidgin English for trade goods has long flowed along the indigenous channels of communication from the seacoast into the wilderness. With it has traveled the frightening knowledge of the white man's magical power. No small element in the white man's magic is the hopeful message sent abroad by his missionaries: the news that a Messiah will come and that the present order of Creation will end.

The people of the central highlands of New Guinea are only the latest to be gripped in the recurrent religious frenzy of the "cargo cults." However variously embellished with details from native myth and Christian belief, these cults all advance the same central theme: the world is about to end in a terrible cataclysm. Thereafter God, the ancestors or some local culture hero will appear and inaugurate a blissful paradise on earth. Death, old age, illness and evil will be unknown. The riches of the white man will accrue to the Melanesians.

Although the news of such a movement in one area has doubtless often inspired similar movements in other areas, the evidence indicates that these cults have arisen independently in many places as parallel responses to the same enormous social stress and strain. Among the movements best known to students of Melanesia are the "Taro Cult" of New Guinea, the "Vailala Madness" of Papua, the "Naked Cult" of Espiritu Santo, the "John Frum Movement" of the New Hebrides and the "Tuka Cult" of the Fiji Islands.

At times the cults have been so well organized and fanatically persistent that they have brought the work of government to a standstill. The outbreaks have often taken the authorities completely by surprise and have confronted them with mass opposition of an alarming kind. In the 1930s, for example, villagers in the vicinity of Wewak, New Guinea, were stirred by a succession of "Black King" movements. The prophets announced that the Europeans would soon leave the island, abandoning their property to the natives, and urged their followers to cease paying taxes, since the government station was about to disappear into the sea in a great earthquake. To the tiny community of Whites in charge of the region, such talk was dangerous. The authorities jailed four of the prophets and exiled three others. In yet another movement, that sprang up in declared opposition to the local Christian mission, the cult leader took Satan as his god.

Troops on both sides in World War II found their arrival in Melanesia heralded as a sign of the Apocalypse. The G.I.s who landed in the New Hebrides, moving up for the bloody fighting on Guadalcanal, found the natives furiously at work preparing airfields, roads and docks for the magic ships and planes that they believed were coming from "Rusefel" (Roosevelt), the friendly king of America.

The Japanese also encountered millenarian visionaries during their southward march to Guadalcanal. Indeed, one of the strangest minor military actions of World War II occurred in Dutch New Guinea, when Japanese forces had to be turned against the local Papuan inhabitants of the Geelvink Bay region. The Japanese had at first been received with great joy, not because their "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" propaganda had made any great impact upon the Papuans, but because the natives regarded them as harbingers of the new world that was dawning, the Right of the Dutch having already given the first sign. Mansren, creator of the islands and their peoples, would now return, bringing with him the ancestral dead. All this had been known, the cult leaders declared, to the crafty Dutch, who had torn out the first page of the Bible where these truths were inscribed. When Mansren returned, the existing world order would be entirely overturned. White men would turn black like Papuans, Papuans would become Whites; root crops would grow in trees, and coconuts and fruits would grow like tubers. Some of the islanders now began to draw together into large "towns"; others took Biblical names such as "Jericho" and "Galilee" for their villages. Soon they adopted military uniforms and began drilling. The Japanese, by now highly unpopular, tried to disarm and disperse the Papuans; resistance inevitably developed. The climax of this tragedy came when several canoe-loads of fanatics sailed out to attack Japanese warships, believing themselves to be invulnerable by virtue of the holy water with which they had sprinkled themselves. But the bullets of the Japanese did not turn to water, and the attackers were mowed down by machine-gun fire.

Behind this incident lay a long history. As long ago as 1857 missionaries in the Geelvink Bay region had made note of the story of Mansren. It is typical of many Melanesian myths that became confounded with Christian doctrine to form the ideological basis of the movements. The legend tells how long ago there lived an old man named Manamakeri ("he who itches"), whose body was covered with sores. Manamakeri was extremely fond of palm wine, and used to climb a huge tree every day to tap the liquid from the flowers. He soon found that someone was getting there before him and removing the liquid. Eventually he trapped the thief, who turned out to be none other than the Morning Star. In return for his freedom, the Star gave the old man a wand that would produce as much fish as he liked, a magic tree and a magic staff. If he drew in the sand and stamped his foot, the drawing would become real. Manamakeri, aged as he was, now magically impregnated a young maiden; the child of this union was a miracle-child who spoke as soon as he was born. But the maiden's parents were horrified, and banished her, the child and the old man. The trio sailed off in a canoe created by Mansren ("The Lord"), as the old man now became known. On this journey Mansren rejuvenated himself by stepping into a fire and flaking off his scaly skin, which changed into valuables. He then sailed around Geelvink Bay, creating islands where he stopped, and peopling them with the ancestors of the present-day Papuans.

The Mansren myth is plainly a creation myth fu II of symbolic ideas relating to fertility and rebirth. Comparative evidence-especially the shedding of his scaly skin-confirms the suspicion that the old man is, in fact, the Snake in another guise. Psychoanalytic writers argue that the snake occupies such a prominent part in mythology the world over because it stands for the penis, another fertility symbol. This may be so, but its symbolic significance is surely more complex than this. It is the "rebirth" of the hero, whether Mansren or the Snake, that exercises such universal fascination over men's minds.

The 19th-century missionaries thought that the Mansren story would make the introduction of Christianity easier, since the concept of "resurrection," not to mention that of the "virgin birth" and the "second coming," was already there. By 1867, however, the first cult organized around the Mansren legend was reported.

Though such myths were widespread in Melanesia, and may have sparked occasional movements even in the preWhite era, they took on a new significance in the late 19th century, once the European powers had finished parceling out the Melanesian region among themselves. In many coastal areas the long history of "blackbirding"-the seizure of islanders for work on the plantations of Australia and Fiji-had built up a reservoir of hostility to Europeans. In other areas, however, the arrival of the Whites was accepted, even welcomed, for it meant access to bully beef and cigarettes, shirts and paraffin lamps, whisky and bicycles. It also meant access to the knowledge behind these material goods, for the Europeans brought missions and schools as well as cargo.

Practically the only teaching the natives received about European life came from the missions, which emphasized the central significance of religion in European society. The Melanesians already believed that man's activities whether gardening, sailing canoes or bearing children-needed magical assistance. Ritual without human effort was not enough. But neither was human effort on its own. This outlook was reinforced by mission teaching.

The initial enthusiasm for European rule, however, was speedily dispelled. The rapid growth of the plantation economy removed the bulk of the able bodied men from the villages, leaving women, children and old men to carry on as best they could. The splendid vision of the equality of all Christians began to seem a pious deception in face of the realities of the color bar, the multiplicity of rival Christian missions and the open irreligion of many Whites.

For a long time the natives accepted the European mission as the means by which the "cargo" would eventually be made available to them. But they found that acceptance of Christianity did not bring the cargo any nearer. They grew disillusioned. The Astor now began to be put about that it was not the Whites who made the cargo, but the dead ancestors. To people completely ignorant of factory production, this made good sense. White men did not work; they merely wrote secret signs on scraps of paper, for which they were given shiploads of goods. On the other hand, the Melanesians labored week after week for pitiful wages. Plainly the goods must be made for Melanesians somewhere, perhaps in the Land of the Dead. The Whites, who possessed the secret of the cargo, were intercepting it and keeping it from the hands of the islanders, to whom it was really consigned. In the Madang district of New Guinea, after some 40 years' experience of the missions, the natives went in a body one day with a petition demanding that the cargo secret should now be revealed to them, for they had been very patient.

So strong is this belief in the existence of a "secret" that the cargo cults generally contain some ritual in imitation of the mysterious European customs which are held to be the clue to the white man's extraordinary power over goods and men. The believers sit around tables with bottles of flowers in front of them, dressed in European clothes, waiting for the cargo ship or airplane to materialize; other cultists feature magic pieces of paper and cabalistic writing. Many of them deliberately turn their backs on the past by destroying secret ritual objects, or exposing them to the gaze of uninitiated youths and women, for whom formerly even a glimpse of the sacred objects would have meant the severest penalties, even death. The belief that they were the chosen people is further reinforced by their reading of the Bible, for the lives and customs of the people in the Old Testament resemble their own lives rather than those of the Europeans. In the New Testament they find the Apocalypse, with its prophecies of destruction and resurrection, particularly attractive.

Missions that stress the imminence of the Second Coming, like those of the Seventh Day Adventists, are often accused of stimulating millenarian cults among the islanders. In reality, however, the leanest themselves rework the doctrines the missionaries teach them, selecting from the Bible what they themselves find particularly congenial in it. Such movements have occurred in areas where missions of quite different types have been dominant, from Roman Catholic to Seventh Day Adventist. The reasons for the emergence of these cults, of course, lie far deeper in the life-experience of the people.

The economy of most of the islands is very backward. Native agriculture produces little for the world market, and even the European plantations and mines export only a few primary products and raw materials: copra, rubber, gold. Melanesians are quite unable to understand why copra, for example, fetches 30 pounds sterling per ton one month and but 5 pounds a few months later. With no notion of the workings of world-commodity markets, the natives see only the sudden closing of plantations, reduced wages and unemployment, and are inclined to attribute their insecurity to the whim or evil in the nature of individual planters.

Such shocks have not been confined to the economic order. Governments, too, have come and gone, especially during the two world wars: German, Dutch, British and French administrations melted overnight. Then came the Japanese, only to be ousted in turn largely by the previously unknown Americans. And among these Americans the Melanesians saw Negroes like themselves, living lives of luxury on equal terms with white G.I.s. The sight of these Negroes seemed like a fulfillment of the old prophecies to many cargo cult leaders. Nor must we forget the sheer scale of this invasion. Around a million U. S. troops passed through the Admiralty Islands, completely swamping the inhabitants. It was a world of meaningless and chaotic changes, in which anything was possible. New ideas were imported and given local twists. Thus in the Loyalty Islands people expected the French Communist Party to bring the millennium. There is no real evidence, however, of any Communist influence in these movements, despite the rather hysterical belief among Solomon Island planters that the name of the local "Masinga Rule" movement was derived from the word "Marxian"! In reality the name comes from a Solomon Island tongue, and means 'brotherhood."

Europeans who have witnessed outbreaks inspired by the cargo cults are usually at a loss to understand what they behold. The islanders throwaway their money, break their most sacred taboos, abandon their gardens and destroy their precious livestock; they indulge in sexual license or, alternatively, rigidly separate men from women in huge communal establishments. Sometimes they spend days sitting gazing at the horizon for a glimpse of the long-awaited ship or airplane; sometimes they dance, pray and sing in mass congregations, becoming possessed and "speaking with tongues ."

Observers have not hesitated to use such words as "madness," "mania," and "irrationality" to characterize the cults. But the cults reflect quite logical and rational attempts to make sense out of a social order that appears senseless and chaotic. Given the ignorance of the Melanesians about the wider European society, its economic organization and its highly developed technology, their reactions form a consistent and understandable pattern. They wrap up all their yearning and hope in an amalgam that combines the best counsel they can find in Christianity and their native belief. If the world is soon to end, gardening or fishing is unnecessary; everything will be provided. If the Melanesians are to be part of a much wider order, the taboos that prescribe their social conduct must now be lifted or broken in a newly prescribed way.

Of course the cargo never comes. The cults nonetheless live on. If the millennium does not arrive on schedule, then perhaps there is some failure in the magic, some error in the ritual. New breakaway groups organize around "purer" faith and ritual. The cult rarely disappears, so long as the social situation which brings it into being persists.

At this point it should be observed that cults of this general kind are not peculiar to Melanesia. Men who feel themselves oppressed and deceived have always been ready to pour their hopes and fears, their aspirations and frustrations, into dreams of a millennium to come or of a golden age to return. All parts of the world have had their counterparts of the cargo cults, from the American Indian ghost dance to the communist-millenarist "reign of the saints" in Munster during the Reformation, from medieval European apocalyptic cults to African "witch-finding" movements and Chinese Buddhist heresies. In some situations men have been content to wait and pray; in others they have sought to hasten the day by using their strong right arms to do the Lord's work. And always the cults serve to bring together scattered groups, notably the peasants and urban plebeians of agrarian societies and the peoples of "stateless" societies where the cult unites separate (and often hostile) villages, clans and tribes into a wider religiopolitical unity.

Once the people begin to develop secular political organizations, however, the sects tend to lose their importance as vehicles of protest. They begin to relegate the Second Coming to the distant future or to the next world. In Melanesia ordinary political bodies, trade unions and native councils are becoming the normal media through which the islanders express their aspirations. In recent years continued economic prosperity and political stability have taken some of the edge off their despair. It now seems unlikely that any major movement along cargo-cult lines will recur in areas where the transition to secular politics has been made, even if the insecurity of prewar times returned. I would predict that the embryonic nationalism represented by cargo cults is likely in future to take forms familiar in the history of other countries that have moved from subsistence agriculture to participation in the world economy.

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Editor's Note: This article, published in the May 1959 issue of Scientific American, is a supplement to the 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago column in the May 2009 issue. Patrols of the Australian Government venturing into the "uncontrolled" central highlands of New Guinea in 1946 found the primitive people there swept up in a wave of religious excitement.

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Credit: https://godshotspot.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/the-cargo-cult-belief/[/caption]

Outsiders come to the islands

During the Second World War, the US Army's 'island hopping' strategy saw its troops occupy small, relatively unguarded but well-located islands in the South Pacific. From there, they could embark upon their path to invade Japan. In avoiding major islands and focusing on island hopping, American soldiers came into contact with people who had, until then, had little or no contact with the outside world. The G.I.s came with aeroplanes, manufactured goods, modern medicine, canned food and guns: all of which were new concepts to the islanders.

Perceiving new technologies

Having been colonised by the British Empire, the people of Tanna, a small island in what is now Vanuatu, had already encountered Westerners. Mass-produced goods, however, were new to them. Sci Fi writer Arthur C. Clarke's assertion that 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic' was proven true: it wasn't long before cults worshipping the American goods appeared in islands around the Pacific. Most notably, they cropped up in the islands of Vanuatu, Fiji and New Guinea.

The John Frum cargo cult

These foreigners and their apparently miraculous supplies caused the people of Tanna to mix their existing beliefs (which included an anti-colonialist cult as well as Keraperamun, a volcano god) with their new experiences. The result came to be known as the John Frum cargo cult. To this day, the members of the cult worship a god named John Frum, who is usually depicted as an American solider in full uniform. A neighbouring cult from the same island also worships a god called Tom Navy. These were not considered to be 'new' gods, but instead extensions of their existing deities.

Absence leads to fetishism

As the war came to an end, the Americans went back home. The islanders, however, continued to worship their newly evolved deities in an effort to convince the gods to return and bring with them an abundance of cargo. To the people of Tanna, John Frum, Tom Navy and the other deities became messianic figures who would one day return in ships and aeroplanes laden with fascinating goods. A kind of fetishism emerged, as members of the John Frum cargo cult started to build symbolic runways out of bamboo. Adding to this, they erected wooden air control towers and designed life-size replicas of aeroplanes out of the wood and straw from the island. [caption id="attachment_8823" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Members of the John Frum cult with a replica of an aeroplane. Credit: http://purgingtalon.com/diabologue/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cargocult1.jpg[/caption] In 1957, this fetishism progressed further as the newly formed 'Tanna Army' emerged. It is a non-violent organisation that emulates the public parades and military mannerisms of the American army. Its 'soldiers' dress in red, white and blue; and to this day, a parade occurs on the 15 th of February every year.

So what are the Melanesian cargo cults?

The definition of 'cargo cults' has thrown up a multitude of problems. In 1948, anthropologist Lucy Mair wrote 'the motive force of cargo cult is a feeling of hopeless envy of the European with his immensely higher material standards'. This is by no means an accepted analysis of the movements; but it presents an interesting juxtaposition of the cults with modern consumerism. Loosely, we can now say that they are organised social movements of people in pursuit of 'cargo' by means of ritual action. Whether the cults were nativistic, and thus concerned with reviving waning traditions, or iconoclastic, and thus focused on replacing local culture with Western substitutes, continues to be subject to debate. We can say with absolute certainty, though, that over the past 7 decades, these movements have played a pivotal role in developing the communities and cultures currently in play on the islands of Vanuatu. Where there are leaders and prophets of these cults, they are concerned with social harmony and order. They insist that in order for new cargo to arrive on the islands, certain social rules have to be followed. Moral renewal and collectivism over individualism are common themes: to love one another, to perform different kinds of sexual relationships, and the rejection of stealing, lying and cheating. No order, no cargo. A prominent writer and researcher on the cargo cults, Peter Worsley, has argued that cargo cults 'weld previously hostile and separate groups together into a new unity' and that 'by projecting his message on to the supernatural plane', a cargo cult luminary establishes that his leadership 'transcends the narrow province of local gods and spirits associated with particular clans, tribes or villages'.

Cargo cults: a comforting reflection of the human condition

Despite having largely faded away, stories of cargo cults are constantly doing the rounds. A quick internet search of the term will throw up seemingly endless analyses and hypotheses; and if you are so inclined, you can purchase a bottle of John Frum alcohol to sip at your leisure. Many documentaries have been made about the faction that specifically worships Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. So why the obsession? Simply put, they epitomise modern, consumerist desire. It is a desire that cannot be satiated. We have endless opportunities to shop for our own cargo, and yet the acquisition of goods never seems to satisfy us. When we get our cargo, it doesn't quash the desire. It intensifies it. Unending desire and the constant strive to be better, have more, and achieve dominance is human nature - whether it's on the shores of Tanna or in the heart of Manhattan. To Westerners, cargo cults seem to be as futile as they are relatable. It's the modern condition, reflected in a place that feels like another world.]]>

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Melanesian cargo cults and the unquenchable thirst of consumerism - New Historian

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Credit: https://godshotspot.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/the-cargo-cult-belief/[/caption] During the Second World War, the US Army's 'island hopping' strategy saw its troops occupy small, relatively unguarded but well-located islands in the South Pacific. From there, they could embark upon their path to invade Japan.

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Britain's historic free trade deal with New Zealand includes a ban on culturally appropriating the haka dance often performed by the country's sports teams.

The prime ministersaid the new deal will cut costs for exporters and open up the country's job market to UK professionals.

During a Zoom call on Wednesday, Boris Johnson and his counterpart Jacinda Ardern agreed to its terms, which also include commitments from the UK to protect New Zealand's iconic haka, Ka Mate.

Haka is a ceremonial dance in Māori culture - the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand.

The terms were agreed after a group of NHS nurses in West Devon performed an altered haka in facepaint while chanting about 'destroying' Covid-19 in April last year.

It was branded 'verging on being racist' by cultural adviser Karaitiana Taiuru.

One of the greatest long-term benefits from the deal - which has limited immediate economic value given New Zealand's relatively small population - will make it easier for British businesses to sell services to the country.

It means tariffs will be removed on UK goods including clothing, ships and bulldozers, and on New Zealand goods including wine, honey and kiwi fruits.

The two prime ministers committed to promoting Māori participation in trade, addressing the concerns and identifying 'appropriate ways to advance recognition and protection of the haka Ka Mate'.

While a free trade deal is unlikely to prevent the traditional dance being butchered on social media, a clause to 'protect' it was agreed from using it commercially by those other than its indigenous guardians.

According to the agreement, Britain must 'acknowledge Ngati Toa Rangatira's (the leaders of the Ngati Toa tribe) guardianship of the haka'.

Māori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi told the New Zealand Herald that the new protections should be welcomed.

He said: 'We must be looking at cultural appropriation - not misappropriation, treating it with a lot more respect and I'm glad that a lot more people are.

'You've got to understand the concept of haka, and what it's about. It's not a commodity to be used in that sort of space, it's a taonga (treasure) that's been gifted to the All Blacks by Ngati Toa and Aotearoa and we're really proud of it.'

Haka means 'dance' in the language of New Zealand's Māori people and involves a group performing synchronised movements, with lots of stomping, shouting, and eye-rolling.

It is also used as a war dance and has become associated with the New Zealand rugby team, which performs it before matches to signal a challenge to their opponents.

In a video of the deal being struck, Mr Johnson said: 'We have scrummed down, we've packed tight, and together we've got the ball over the line and we have a deal. And I think it's a great deal.'
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Doing the haka if you're not Maori will be banned in UK

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Britain's historic free trade deal with New Zealand includes a ban on culturally appropriating the haka dance often performed by the country's sports teams. The prime ministersaid the new deal will cut costs for exporters and open up the country's job market to UK professionals.

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The US Should Apologize to the Marshall Islands for Nuclear Tests

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Advertisement With the Able nuclear test on July 1, 1946, the United States fired the opening salvo in one of the worst, and least-known, tragedies in our nation's history. Seventy-five years later, it's time for the Biden administration to break with the past and issue a presidential apology to victims of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands.

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Kiribati: a drowning paradise in the South Pacific | DW Documentary

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Micronesia

Micronesia includes the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau (Belau), the U. S. Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Historically, Micronesians descended from seafarers who populated the island atolls between 2000 BC and 500 BC. Since the first contact with Westerners, starting with the Portuguese and Spanish explorers, the islands have been colonized by various European and Asian countries. For example, Pohnpei, an island state of the Federated States of Micronesia, was first "discovered" in 1526 when the Spaniards named it the "New Phillippines". Spain later "claimed sovereignty" over most of Micronesia. Germany was the official colonizer for one year before Spain formally occupied Pohnpei in 1866. Germany "bought" the island from Spain in 1899 after the conclusion of the Spanish American War. Japan annexed the island in 1914 and Pohnpei became a US territory after the defeat of the Japanese empire during World War II.

In 1979, Pohnpei joined three other island states to become the Federated States of Micronesia. The country has had a compact of free association with the US since 1982 (Ashby, 1993). A similar political history occurred for the Republic of Palau. Palau was "discovered" in 1710 by Spain. It too was sold to the Germans, annexed by Japan and later became part of the US-managed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands after World War II. Independence came to Palau in 1994 and it has had a compact of free association with the US since 1994 (Barbour, 1995).

The island of Guam, also a part of Micronesia, was ceded to the US by Spain in 1898. Captured by the Japanese in 1941, it was retaken by the US three years later and today remains, along with Saipan and other neighboring islands, an unincorporated US territory. In the 2000 Census, 37% of the Guam population is native Chamorro (Central Intelligence Agency, Accessed September 2, 2007).

A sad legacy of World War II is the nuclear weapons testing that occurred in the Marshall Islands starting in 1946. Whole atolls were destroyed or made uninhabitable, populations moved away from their ancestral homelands, and ways of life were changed as the people were involuntarily exposed to radiation. Residual effects initially included radiation sickness, but later increased rates thyroid cancer as well as lung cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, leukemia and lymphoma (Anderson et al., 2006). Today, these island nations struggle with the legacy of the colonization and westernization of their island homelands. Social structures and ways of life are changing and diseases associated with western lifestyles such as obesity, coronary artery disease and substance abuse are having devastating effects (Kermode & Tellei, 2005).

Polynesia

The Polynesia triangular region stretches from Fiji and Tonga to the west, Easter Island to the east, Hawaii to the North and New Zealand to the south. Samoans are the largest population of Polynesians in the US after Native Hawaiians. The Samoan islands were populated more than 2,000 years ago and subsequent migrations settled the rest of Polynesia further to the east. Contact with Europeans began in the early 1700s but did not intensify until the arrival of English missionaries and traders in the 1830s. At the turn of the 20th century, the Samoan islands were split into two sections. The eastern islands became territories of the United States in 1904 and today are known as American Samoa. The western islands became known as Western Samoa (now the Independent State of Samoa), passing from Germany to New Zealand in 1914. The New Zealand government administered Western Samoa under the auspices of the League of Nations and then as a UN trusteeship until independence in 1962. Western Samoa was the first Pacific Island country to gain its independence (US Department of State, Accessed September 2, 2007).

Melanesia

Tonga was settled about 500 BC. The Dutch explorers visited in 1643 after the islands were sighted in 1616. By 1845, all of the Tongan islands had been united by ancestors of the current dynasty. Under British protection by 1900, Tonga retained its independence and autonomy and became fully independent in 1970 (US Department of State, Accessed September 2, 2007).

Fiji was settled by both Polynesian and Melanesian people around 1500 BC. Europeans arrived in the early 1800s and Fiji was ceded to Britain in 1874. Fiji became an independent nation in 1970 and today continues to struggle with the large immigrant population from India who came to Fiji as servants.

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Historical Background: Colonization of Pacific Islands

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Micronesia Micronesia includes the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau (Belau), the U. S. Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Historically, Micronesians descended from seafarers who populated the island atolls between 2000 BC and 500 BC.

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Three important issues for effective geriatric care for Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander older adults are:

1. An understanding of their history is crucial to understanding the current health status and strategies for promoting the health

2. Knowledge of their health beliefs and practices

3. Knowledge of causes of illness and interventions

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Culturally Appropriate Care for Native: Fund of Knowledge

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Three important issues for effective geriatric care for Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander older adults are: An understanding of their history is crucial to understanding the current health status and strategies for promoting the health Knowledge of their health beliefs and practices Knowledge of causes of illness and interventions

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Royal Family of Hawaii

"Ua Mau ke Ea o Ka ʻĀina i ka Pono"

"The land and the people and the crown are one."

​

​

Performances will be judged at the Edith Kanakaʻole Stadium in Hilo on June 24, 25, 26.

There will be no live audience, but will be broadcasted on KFVE the following week on July 1, 2, 3.

The Soldiers', Sailors', Marines', Coast Guard & Airmen's Club (SSMAC)

celebrated its 99th Anniversary at the 22nd Annual Military Ball at the Pierre Hotel in New York City on Friday October 12th.

H.R.H Princess Owana and H.R.H. Prince Noa arrives on the red carpet proir to the Kamehameha Foundation Fundraising gala at the Kahala, 2018

Queen Liliʻuokalani passed away on November 11, 1917

Image of Our Lady of Fatima

A gift from H.R.H. Dom Duarte, Head of the Royal House of Portugal for Saint Augustine by the Sea church in Waikiki

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Royal Family of Hawaii "Ua Mau ke Ea o Ka ʻĀina i ka Pono" "The land and the people and the crown are one." ​ ​ Performances will be judged at the Edith Kanakaʻole Stadium in Hilo on June 24, 25, 26.

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Hawaiian Royalty & US Annexation - Hawai'i (U.S. National Park Service)

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National Park Service Logo National Park Service

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Outstanding Universal Value

Rapa Nui National Park is a protected Chilean wildlife area located in Easter Island, which concentrates the legacy of the Rapa Nui culture. This culture displayed extraordinary characteristics that are expressed in singular architecture and sculpture within the Polynesian context. Easter Island, the most remote inhabited island on the planet, is 3,700 kilometres from the coast of continental Chile and has an area of 16,628 hectares while the World Heritage property occupies an area of approximately seven thousand hectares, including four nearby islets.

The island was colonized toward the end of the first millennium of the Christian era by a small group of settlers from Eastern Polynesia, whose culture manifested itself between the eleventh and seventeenth centuries in great works such as the ahu -ceremonial platforms- and carved moai - colossal statues- representing ancestors. Rapa Nui National Park most prominent attributes are the archaeological sites. It is estimated that there are about 900 statues, more than 300 ceremonial platforms and thousands of structures related to agriculture, funeral rites, housing and production, and other types of activities. Prominent among the archaeological pieces are the moai that range in height from 2 m to 20 m and are for the most part carved from the yellow-brown lava tuff, using simple picks ( toki) made from hard basalt and then lowered down the slopes into previously dug holes. There are many kinds of them and of different sizes: those in the process of being carved, those in the process of being moved to their final destinations -the ahu-, those being torn down and erected. The quarries ( Rano Raraku and others) are invaluable evidence of the process of their carving. The ahu vary considerably in size and form; the most colossal is the Ahu Tongariki, with its 15 moai. There are certain constant features, notably a raised rectangular platform of large worked stones filled with rubble, a ramp often paved with rounded beach pebbles, and levelled area in front of the platform. Also extremely valuable are the rock art sites (pictographs and petroglyphs), which include a large variety of styles, techniques and motifs. Other archaeological sites are the caves, which also contain rock art. There is also a village of ceremonial nature named Orongo which stands out because of its location and architecture. While it has not attracted as much attention, the housing and productive structures are of extreme interest.

According to some studies, the depletion of natural resources had brought about an ecological crisis and the decline of the ancient Rapa Nui society by the 16 th century, which led to decline and to the spiritual transformation in which these megalithic monuments were destroyed. The original cult of the ancestor was replaced by the cult of the man-bird, which has as exceptional testimony the ceremonial village of Orongo, located at the Rano Kau volcano. Fifty-four semi-subterranean stone-houses of elliptical floor plans complement this sacred place, profusely decorated with petroglyphs alluding to both the man-bird and fertility. This cult would see its end in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Colonization, the introduction of livestock, the confinement of the original inhabitants to smaller areas, the dramatic effect of foreign diseases and, above all, slavery, reduced the population of Rapa Nui to little more than a hundred. Currently, the island is inhabited by descendants of the ancient Rapa Nui as well as immigrants from diverse backgrounds, accounting for a significant mixed population.

Critère (i): Rapa Nui National Park contains one of the most remarkable cultural phenomena in the world. An artistic and architectural tradition of great power and imagination was developed by a society that was completely isolated from external cultural influences of any kind for over a millennium.

Criterion (iii): Rapa Nui, the indigenous name of Easter Island, bears witness to a unique cultural phenomenon. A society of Polynesian origin that settled there c. A.D. 300 established a powerful, imaginative and original tradition of monumental sculpture and architecture, free from any external influence. From the 10 th to the 16 th century this society built shrines and erected enormous stone figures known as moai, which created an unrivalled landscape that continues to fascinate people throughout the world.

Criterion (v): Rapa Nui National Park is a testimony to the undeniably unique character of a culture that suffered a debacle as a result of an ecological crisis followed by the irruption from the outside world. The substantial remains of this culture blend with their natural surroundings to create an unparalleled cultural landscape.
Integrity
The Rapa Nui National Park covers approximately 40% of the island and incorporates an ensemble of sites that is highly representative of the totality of the archaeological sites and of the most outstanding manifestations of their numerous typologies. The integrity of the archaeological sites has been preserved, but the conservation of materials is a matter of great concern and scientific research. The management and conservation efforts, still insufficient, focus on addressing anthropic factors and the effects of weathering, both on the material -volcanic lava and tuff- and on the stability of structures. Progress has been made in the closure of areas, monitoring and the layout of roads so as to maintain the visual integrity of the landscape.

An increase has been observed in cattle that wander illegally inside the Park limits. In terms of invasive vegetation, certain species have proliferated and have had an impact on the landscape. At the same time, they have adversely affected the structural stability which is being addressed through the management of the sites.
Authenticity
The Rapa Nui National Park continues to exhibit a high degree of authenticity because there has been little intervention since virtual abandonment of the area in the later 19 th century. A number of restorations and reconstructions of ahu have been made on the basis of strictly controlled scientific investigations, and there has been some re-erection of fallen moai, with replacement of the red stone headdresses, but these do not go beyond the permissible limits of anastylosis.

Authenticity is being maintained and conservation interventions are consistent with the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, with prevailing sense of respect for the historical transformation of the Rapa Nui culture, which, in a context of deep crisis, toppled the moai. In this respect, it is important to consider that the Rapa Nui National Park must provide an account of the various stages of the Rapa Nui civilization, not excluding that of its crisis.
Protection and management requirements
The Rapa Nui National Park has two official protections. On one hand, since 1935 it has been a national park, administered by the National Forest Service of Chile (CONAF). On the other hand, the entire island was declared a National Monument in 1935 and the same was done with the islets adjacent to Easter Island in 1976. The property enjoys a solid legal and institutional framework for protection and management. There are two institutions responsible for this activity that coordinate with each other (National Monuments Council and CONAF) and with the community for conservation and management. There is a museum, the R. P. Sebastian Englert Museum of Anthropology, which supports research and conservation efforts. A management plan is in place which undergoes periodic review and there is a team in charge of Park administration. Nevertheless, site management becomes complex because of cultural differences and the reluctances from part of some sectors of the local community about State intervention.

Visitor management is a great imperative, with challenges in establishing carrying capacity and providing infrastructure of basic services and interpretation. Also, it is necessary that the local population effectively support the conservation effort, for example, through livestock control.

A better dialogue is necessary among researchers to reach conclusions on the available knowledge and to manage it in a functional manner conducive to conservation; to systematize the information produced and generate a periodic, comprehensive and sustainable monitoring system. Additional staff and resources are needed for the administration and care of the site, to reinforce the number and training of the park rangers team, and to increase the operating budget. There is a constant pressure on park lands; the State must prevent its illegal occupation.

The essential requirement for the protection and management of this property lies in its multifaceted status as a World Heritage site, as a reference point and basis for the development of the population of the island, and repository of answers to fundamental questions that are far from being revealed.

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Outstanding Universal Value Rapa Nui National Park is a protected Chilean wildlife area located in Easter Island, which concentrates the legacy of the Rapa Nui culture. This culture displayed extraordinary characteristics that are expressed in singular architecture and sculpture within the Polynesian context.

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First Maori journalist with facial markings on Primetime 

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First Maori journalist with facial markings on Primetime 

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Written by Jeevan Ravindran, CNN

A Māori journalist has made history in New Zealand by becoming the first person with traditional facial markings to host a primetime news program on national television.

Oriini Kaipara made headlines worldwide after hosting her first 6 p.m. bulletin for Newshub on the TV channel Three, with many lauding the milestone as a win for Māori representation.

"I was really elated. I was over the moon," Kaipara told CNN of the moment she found out she would cover the primetime slot. "It's a huge honor. I don't know how to deal with the emotions."

Kaipara's Christmas Day presenting role was the first of six consecutive days covering for the primetime news show's permanent anchors, although her stint will continue into early January and she said she may be called again in the future.

The 38-year-old is already the permanent anchor of the 4:30 p.m. "Newshub Live" bulletin, and previously made history in 2019 while working at TVNZ, when she became the first person with Māori facial markings to present a mainstream TV news program.

In the tradition of the Māori people, who are the indigenous people ofwhat is now New Zealand, facial markings are tattooed on the chin for women and known as moko kauae, while for men they cover most of the face and are known as mataora.

Kaipara got her "moko" in January 2019, which she says was a personal decision she made for grounding reasons, to remind her of her power and identity as a Māori woman.

"When I doubt myself, and I see my reflection in the mirror, I'm not just looking at myself," Kaipara told CNN. "I'm looking at my grandmother and my mother, and my daughters, and hers to come after me, as well as all the other women, Māori girls out there and it empowers me."

Having begun her career in 2005, Kaipara said hosting the primetime news slot was the "pinnacle" of her journalistic dreams, although it was a "bittersweet moment" because her mother, who recently passed away, couldn't share the moment with her.

Despite all the positive comments, there have also been negative reactions to Kaipara's presenting, especially as she often uses Māori phrases such as "E haere ake nei" (still to come), "Ū tonu mai" (stay with us) and "Taihoa e haere" (don't go just yet).

The Māori language is hugely important to Kaipara. Her ultimate goal, she said, is encouraging people to speak the language that was "beaten out of my grandmother's generation" and reclaim it for Māori people.

"We still haven't addressed a lot of intergenerational traumas and colonization and for Maori, that's very, very pertinent and poignant as well," Kaipara said. "Not much in terms of race relations here has changed in a very long time."

However, the "enormity" of the occasion was not lost on her and in many ways it was a full circle moment for Kaipara, who was inspired by Māori TV news presenter Tini Molyneux when she was a young girl.

"She was my idol," Kaipara told CNN. "She had the same skin color as me... she sounded like me, she looked like me. And she comes from where I come from originally, my family, whakapapa (ancestors), where are ancestral ties are to our land."

Kaipara hopes young Māori girls will take inspiration from her story as a sign that times are changing.

"For a long time our people, our ancestors, our tipuna, and us now, have done so much work to get to where we are," Kaipara told CNN. "As a young woman, as a young Māori, what you do today influences and affects what happens tomorrow. So all I ask is that they see the beauty in being Māori and they embrace it and acknowledge that and do what they can with it for positive change."

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māori journalist oriini kaipara becomes first person with facial markings to present primetime news - cnn

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Māori journalist becomes first person with facial markings to present primetime news

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Written by Jeevan Ravindran, CNN A Māori journalist has made history in New Zealand by becoming the first person with traditional facial markings to host a primetime news program on national television. Oriini Kaipara made headlines worldwide after hosting her first 6 p.m.

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https://www.iponz.govt.nz/about-ip/maori-ip/concepts-to-understand/

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Extinction of Australia's Megafauna - Behind the News

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Megafauna are large animals that roamed the Earth during the Pleistocene Epoch, 1.6 million - 10,000 years ago.

In Australia, Megafauna included the huge wombat-shaped Diprotodon and giant goanna Megalania. European Megafauna included Woolly Rhinoceroses, Mammoths, Cave Lions and Cave Bears. In North American, Megafauna included Giant Ground Sloths and Sabre-toothed Tigers, and African Megafauna included elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses. Africa's Megafauna is all that remains around today.

Extinction theories

The extinction of megafauna around the world was probably due to environmental and ecological factors. It was almost completed by the end of the last ice age. It is believed that megafauna initially came into existence in response to glacial conditions and became extinct with the onset of warmer climates.

In temperate Eurasia and North America, megafauna extinction concluded simultaneously with the replacement of the vast periglacial tundra by an immense area of forest. Glacial species, such as mammoths and woolly rhinocerous, were replaced by animals better adapted to forests, such as elk, deer and pigs. Reindeers (caribou) retreated north, while horses moved south to the central Asian steppe. This all happened about 10 000 years ago, despite the fact that humans colonised North America less than 15 000 years ago and non-tropical Eurasia nearly 1 million years ago.

Tropical and subtropical areas have experienced less radical climatic change. The most dramatic of these changes was the transformation of a vast area of north Africa into the world's largest desert. Significantly, Africa escaped major faunal extinction as did tropical and sub-tropical Asia. The Asian elephant survives until the present day, while the Asian rhinoceros survives even on the relatively small island of Java, Indonesia.

At the end of the last ice age, Australia's climate changed from cold-dry to warm-dry. As a result, surface water became scarce. Most inland lakes became completely dry or dry in the warmer seasons. Most large, predominantly browsing animals lost their habitat and retreated to a narrow band in eastern Australia, where there was permanent water and better vegetation. The diprotodon, one of Australia's megafauna, may have survived on the Liverpool Plains of New South Wales until about 7000 years ago. As First Nations people have been in Australia over the past 60 000 years, megafauna must have co-existed with humans for at least 30 000 years. For social, spiritual and economic reasons, First Nations peoples harvested game in a sustainable manner.

Words to know:

MEGAFAUNA - large animals such as elephant, mammoth, rhinocerous and diprotodon.

GLACIAL - characterised by extensive masses of ice.

TUNDRA - cold, desert, treeless plains of artic lowlands in Eurasia and North America.

STEPPE - grasslands of temperate dry climate, such as in central Asia.

BROWSERS - animals that feed predominantly on leaves.

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Megafauna are large animals that roamed the Earth during the Pleistocene Epoch, 1.6 million - 10,000 years ago. In Australia, Megafauna included the huge wombat-shaped Diprotodon and giant goanna Megalania. European Megafauna included Woolly Rhinoceroses, Mammoths, Cave Lions and Cave Bears.