By 1200 CE, the population of Oceania had become a web of far-flung communities. Despite long distances and great diversity, they used sophisticated maritime technology to stay connected.
Acknowledging Pacific history
The Pacific Ocean is a really big place. In this article, we’re only talking about one part of the Pacific. Oceania lies within the vastness of the world’s greatest ocean, but it‘s a huge region in its own right! We’re not going to deal much with the peoples on the Pacific Coast of East Asia or Siberia. Nor will we discuss the indigenous societies that settled the Pacific coast of North and South America. We’ll focus on Oceania—which includes island groups known as Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and some parts of Australasia, including New Zealand, New Guinea, and the east coast of Australia. Much of this region was populated by humans as many as 40,000 years ago! You may have seen a representation of this process in Disney’s Moana. The film depicts the historical movement of Polynesian peoples through the song “Know the Way.” It also shows Moana herself navigating by the stars via technologies Pacific peoples pioneered over thousands of years of seafaring.
But here’s a weird fact. Oceania, and the peoples of the Pacific, were often left out of world history textbooks (at least those written in the US) until about 1999. That was when two historians, both teaching at the University of Hawaii, wrote Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past.
\[^1\] They were, after all, living in Hawaii, the long-standing Pacific society established by the Polynesian people. They knew that Hawaiians historically were part of a Pacific community that played a significant role in the human past.
So, in their textbook, they made sure to acknowledge that history. It became a bestseller, changing the way this region has been studied ever since.
Human geography of the Pacific, c. 1200
Scholars also continue to debate whether this first wave of migrations from southeast Asia was intentional or unintentional. Oceania was settled by humans over a long period beginning 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, though scientists still argue about these numbers. Scholars also continue to debate whether this first wave of migrations was intentional or unintentional. New studies have shown that unintentional crossings—journeys where ships went off course or had no intended destination in the first place but still managed to settle somewhere—were unlikely. Therefore, it’s possible that early humans intentionally island-hopped from southeast Asia to the coast of New Guinea using early boat-building and sailing technologies. Once there, people developed sophisticated agricultural techniques and built densely-populated communities.
Some of these people then also crossed the straits that separate New Guinea from Australia. Those who settled in Australia encountered a difficult new set of environments, including widespread arid (dry) zones. Few plant or animal species in Australia could be domesticated, but the continent did have some large animals that could be hunted. That’s how most of the communities of Australia became expert foragers (hunters and gatherers).
Meanwhile, the societies of Southeast Asia and Taiwan, and the early settlers of the south Pacific, were together developing a whole range of technological innovations that slowly— as in, over thousands of years—allowed them to travel deeper and deeper into the Pacific Ocean. The most important of these innovations allowed them to read wind and ocean currents to situate themselves, and to construct vast, sail-driven canoes that could go very long distances. With these technologies, these peoples gradually populated the outermost islands of Oceania.
Eventually, these communities formed three large groups. Each was made up of peoples who were geographically spread out, but still related to each other by culture and language. These three groups each covered areas of the planet larger than most continents. The first was the Melanesian group, which made up the densely-populated region of New Guinea and also a large number of pretty closelypacked islands from New Guinea to Fiji. North of Melanesia were the Micronesian group, who were more spread out, based on islands including the Mariana and Majōl (Marshall) chains. Finally, to the east, the long-voyaging Polynesian people gradually populated very far-flung islands. At the geographic center of Polynesian society were the islands of Kūki ‘Āirani (Cook Islands) and Tōtaiete mā (Society Islands). Larger communities were formed in the Hawaiian chain and in Aotearoa (New Zealand), where the Maori people spoke (and still speak) a Polynesian language. The furthest extent of Polynesian society was Rapa Nui (Easter Island), settled about 700 CE.
Organizing communities and states
From 1200 to 1450 CE, Oceania was inhabited by a series of interconnected, culturally linked communities. The vast distances between many Polynesian islands meant that numerous societies were somewhat isolated, but there is evidence of ongoing trade between all of them. Other regions, like those in Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and New Guinea, built up large communities that needed political and social organizations to manage a large population.
To make decisions, people in most communities in this region belonged to family groups, where a lot of the decisions were made. But in a number of societies, families were organized into bigger units such as clans and states. Australian Aboriginal peoples developed an elaborate system of kinship, which helped to determine marriage and family relations but also to establish societal rules for behavior. For the most part, Aboriginal society was egalitarian in terms of leadership potential, but only if you were male. There were few established political hierarchies such as chiefs or kings. Hierarchies seemed to be mostly contained to religious or spiritual matters, or those that related to the Dreaming. The Dreaming is the spiritual philosophy of the Aboriginal peoples, and encompasses their history of the universe, the Earth, the present, and the future.
The Maori society of Aotearoa (New Zealand) migrated from neighboring islands. By the mid- to late-thirteenth century CE, they began dividing the land amongst several states, also called iwis. These were composed of a number of whanau, meaning families. Each state had several important chiefs, called rangatira and ariki, who came together in a collective decision-making group. Each iwi had its own power, but they all worked together. Still, as everywhere in the world, there was conflict both within and between the different Maori states.
The Hawaiian islands were also settled by Polynesian migrants, with the first arrivals often dated to about 300 CE. Continued migrations from the Tahitian islands took place from the ninth century CE. Hawaiian society resembled that of Aotearoa in many ways. Organized into a series of small, rival kingdoms, the extended family, the village, and the clan were usually the most important political institutions. Both Hawaiian and Maori societies lacked written languages. Still, each had rich oral histories that were similar in nature given that both were settled by Polynesians migrating from Tahiti. Their oral tradition told of the legendary founding of the islands. These histories were passed down through many generations. Polynesians also brought with them farming knowledge as well as their shipbuilding and navigation techniques.
Gender relations also varied widely among these communities. Women in Polynesian societies may have been closer to full equality with men than any other part of the world. They could certainly be very independent, and women whose families held royal or chiefly positions could often inherit authority. This was less true in other societies of the Pacific. But the most important aspect of gender roles in this region was the complementary relationship of men and women. In general, people in this part of the world believed that men and women each had their own spheres of influence and their own roles, and that both were needed for a family or community to be successful. This meant that men and women both exercised power, but in different ways, and they weren’t really supposed to step outside of their roles. Also, as in many parts of the world, some Pacific societies had (and continue to have) their own fundamental conceptions of gender. For example, Samoan society saw more than two genders. The third gender, known as fa’afafine, are biologically male but fulfill roles that are historically seen as being more feminine, such as caring for elders and children.
Ideas about culture and politics were broadly shared, despite the diversity of these many societies, because the impressive technology developed by the people of Oceania allowed them to continue to trade with each other across vast distances. An archaeological study set in the Cook Islands, for example, uncovered trade goods such as stone tools that came from islands as far as Samoa, 1,000 miles away, and the Marquesas, 1,500 miles away. Trading connections like these helped communities on various islands to keep up to date with new technology. They could also disperse rare goods like obsidian, a useful type of stone just as desired in the Oceanic sphere as it was in the Americas.
A world apart?
Generally, Oceania is treated as an area that was entirely separated from other parts of the world before the modern era. Not true. After all, many of the people who settled Pacific regions remained in contact with the societies of South and Southeast Asia from which many of them originated. But there is also intriguing evidence of links to further regions.
For example, the language of the people of the large island of Madagascar, off the coast of East Africa, is about half African in origin, and half Southeast Asian with strong relationships to Polynesian languages. This may not be proof of sustained interaction, however, but rather a common origin in Southeast Asia.
In another example, DNA evidence from the Marquesas and other islands suggests that migrants from South America may have joined Polynesians to create mixed communities in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries CE. This evidence, which emerged only very recently, is forcing us to re-imagine a lot of what we thought we knew about the history of this region.
Instead of a vast area of ocean dotted with isolated islands, should we now think of the Pacific—even as early as 1200—as a great zone of interaction and exchange? It’s probably still too early for a final analysis, but it’s clear we can no longer rest on our older narratives that dismissed, or worse, ignored, this global zone.
Oh Lono shake out a net-full of food,
A net-full of rain.
Gather them together for us.
Accumulate food, Oh Lono!
Collect fish, Oh Lono! (Hawaiian prayer to the God Lono)
Many islands
The islands of the eastern Pacific are known as Polynesia, from the Greek for “many islands.” Set within a triangle formed by Aotearoa (New Zealand) in the south, Hawaiʻi to the north and Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the east, the Polynesian islands are dotted across the vast eastern Pacific Ocean. Though small and separated by thousands of miles, they share similar environments and were settled by people with a common cultural heritage. The western Polynesian islands of Fiji and Tonga were settled approximately 3,000 years ago, whilst New Zealand was settled as recently as 1200 C.E.
These people were exceptional boat builders and sailed across the Pacific navigating by currents, stars, and cloud formations. They were skilled fishermen and farmers, growing fruit trees and vegetables and raising pigs, chickens and dogs. Islanders were also accomplished craftspeople and worked in wood, fibre, and feathers to create objects of power and beauty.
They were poets, musicians, dancers, and orators. Eleven closely-linked languages were spoken across the region. They were so similar that Tupaia, a Tahitian who joined Captain Cook on his first voyage, was able to converse with islanders more than two thousand miles away in New Zealand.
Their societies were hierarchical, with the highest ranking people tracing their descent directly from the gods. These gods were all powerful and present in the world. Images of them were created in wood, feathers, fibre and stone. One of the most important items in the Museum’s collections is a carved wood figure of the Hawaiian god, Kūkaʻilimoku, which stands over two and a half meters tall.
This large and intimidating figure was erected by King Kamehameha I, unifier of the Hawaiian islands at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. Kamehameha built a number of temples to his god, Kūkaʻilimoku (‘Kū, the snatcher of land’), in the Kona district, Hawaiʻi, seeking the god’s support in his further military ambitions. The figure is likely to have been a subsidiary image in the most sacred part of one of these temples: not so much a representation of the god as a vehicle for the god to enter. Islanders grew fruit trees and used the wood to carve figures. This one depicts Kū, the “land snatcher.” The figure is characteristic of the god Kū, especially by his disrespectful open mouth, but his hair, incorporating stylized pigs’ heads, suggests an additional identification with the god Lono. The pigs’ heads are possibly symbolic of wealth.
Today, Polynesian culture continues to develop and change, partly in response to colonialism. Whilst traditional methods and techniques continue to be employed by skilled carvers and weavers, other artists have achieved international success in new media.
Easter Island is famous for its stone statues of human figures, known as moai (meaning “statue”). The island is known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui. The moai were probably carved to commemorate important ancestors and were made from around 1000 C.E. until the second half of the seventeenth century. Over a few hundred years the inhabitants of this remote island quarried, carved and erected around 887 moai. The size and complexity of the moai increased over time, and it is believed that Hoa Hakananai’a dates to around 1200 C.E. It is one of only fourteen moai made from basalt, the rest are carved from the island’s softer volcanic tuff. With the adoption of Christianity in the 1860s, the remaining standing moai were toppled.
This example was probably first displayed outside on a stone platform (ahu) on the sacred site of Orongo, before being moved into a stone house at the ritual center of Orongo. It would have stood with giant stone companions, their backs to the sea, keeping watch over the island. Its eyes sockets were originally inlaid with red stone and coral and the sculpture was painted with red and white designs, which were washed off when it was rafted to the ship, to be taken to Europe in 1869. It was collected by the crew of the English ship HMS Topaze, under the command of Richard Ashmore Powell, on their visit to Easter Island in 1868 to carry out surveying work. Islanders helped the crew to move the statue, which has been estimated to weigh around four tons. It was moved to the beach and then taken to the Topaze by raft.
The crew recorded the islanders’ name for the statue, which is thought to mean “stolen or hidden friend.” They also acquired another, smaller basalt statue, known as Moai Hava, which is also in the collections of the British Museum.
Hoa Hakananai’a is similar in appearance to a number of Easter Island moai. It has a heavy eyebrow ridge, elongated ears and oval nostrils. The clavicle is emphasized, and the nipples protrude. The arms are thin and lie tightly against the body; the hands are hardly indicated.
In the British Museum, the figure is set on a stone platform just over a meter high so that it towers above the visitor. It is carved out of dark grey basalt—a hard, dense, fine-grained volcanic rock. The surface of the rock is rough and pitted, and pinpricks of light sparkle as tiny crystals in the rock glint. Basalt is difficult to carve and unforgiving of errors. The sculpture was probably commissioned by a high status individual.
Hoa Hakananai’a’s head is slightly tilted back, as if scanning a distant horizon. He has a prominent eyebrow ridge shadowing the empty sockets of his eyes. The nose is long and straight, ending in large oval nostrils. The thin lips are set into a downward curve, giving the face a stern, uncompromising expression. A faint vertical line in low relief runs from the centre of the mouth to the chin. The jawline is well defined and massive, and the ears are long, beginning at the top of the head and ending with pendulous lobes.
The figure’s collarbone is emphasized by a curved indentation, and his chest is defined by carved lines that run downwards from the top of his arms and curve upwards onto the breast to end in the small protruding bumps of his nipples. The arms are held close against the side of the body, the hands rudimentary, carved in low relief.
The figure’s back is covered with ceremonial designs believed to have been added at a later date, some carved in low relief, others incised. These show images relating to the island’s birdman cult, which developed after about 1400 C.E. The key birdman cult ritual was an annual trial of strength and endurance, in which the chiefs and their followers competed. The victorious chief then represented the creator god, Makemake, for the following year.
Carved on the upper back and shoulders are two birdmen, facing each other. These have human hands and feet, and the head of a frigate bird. In the centre of the head is the carving of a small fledgling bird with an open beak. This is flanked by carvings of ceremonial dance paddles known as ‘ao, with faces carved into them. On the left ear is another ‘ao, and running from top to bottom of the right ear are four shapes like inverted ‘V’s representing the female vulva. These carvings are believed to have been added at a later date.
Collapse
Around 1500 C.E. the practice of constructing moai peaked, and from around 1600 C.E. statues began to be toppled, sporadically. The island’s fragile ecosystem had been pushed beyond what was sustainable. Over time only sea birds remained, nesting on safer offshore rocks and islands. As these changes occurred, so too did the Rapanui religion alter—to the birdman religion.
This sculpture bears witness to the loss of confidence in the efficacy of the ancestors after the deforestation and ecological collapse, and most recently a theory concerning the introduction of rats, which may have ultimately led to famine and conflict. After 1838 at a time of social collapse following European intervention, the remaining standing moai were toppled.
Source: Dr. Jenny Newell and Beth Harris, “Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Moai,” in Smarthistory, June 24, 2022, accessed July 31, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/easter-island-moai/.