| |
|
Culture |
| Unique
Cultural Skills and
Technologies |
| Over
the last
2,000 or
so
years,
Marshallese
have
developed,
refined
and
perfected
a number
of
unique
skills
and
technologies,
all of
which
illustrated
their
keen
adaptation
to the
atoll
and
oceanic
environment. |
| |
|
Fishing
technology,
for
instance,
developed
into one
with
very
high
specialization.
The wide
range of
fishing
environments
coupled
with the
great
variation
in fish
species
led to a
diverse
and
highly
specialized
range of
fishing
techniques.
Few
other
cultures
in the
world
have
developed
as many
fishing
techniques
and
styles
as the
Marshallese. |
| |
|
Marshallese
canoes,
or wa,
which
range
from
small
rowing
canoes
to
massive
high-speed
voyaging
canoes
have
amazed
Westerners
from
Otto Von
Kotzebue,
who
visited
the
Marshalls
in the
early
1800s,
to
modern
day
world-class
sailing
enthusiasts.
Mashallese
canoes
are
recognized
and
revered
throughout
the
Pacific
for
their
advanced
technical
refinements,
including
the
asymmetric
hull,
the lee
platform,
and the
pivoting
midship
mast.
|
| |
| Traditional Marshallese navigational skills were equally sophisticated. When the initial settlers of the Marshalls arrived, they were already equipped with complex navigational skills- otherwise, they could not have found their way to these low-lying islands. As time progressed, these skills were only sharpened. Ultimately, Marshallese learned to literally read nature’s faint and subtle signs. Stars, clouds, waves, currents, winds, birds, and even the color of the ocean, bore recognizable clues which were easily read by trained navigators. These advancements in both maritime knowledge and canoe design allowed Marshallese to commonly sail as far as Hawaii to the east, Enenkio (Wake Island) to the north, Pohnpei to the west and Kiribati to the south.
|
|
| |
| Pacific
Colonization |
| The
predominant
theory
on the
colonization
of the
Pacific
postulates
that the
initial
settlers
moved
out of
Southeast
Asia,
notably
Southeast
China
and
Formosa
approximately
5,000
years
ago.
Over
hundreds
of
years,
and with
successive
advancements
in
maritime
and
agricultural
technology,
migration
progressed
southeastward
along
the
northern
coast of
what is
now New
Guinea,
then
southeast
into
what are
now the
Melanesian
Island
groups
of
Solomon
Islands,
Vanuatu,
and New
Caledonia,
and
sometime
between
2,000 to
3,000
years
ago,
into the
Central
Pacific:
Fiji,
Tonga,
Samoa
and
probably
Eastern
Micronesia. |
| |
|
According
to
linguists,
the
migrants
who
first
moved
out of
Southeast
Asia
spoke in
the
Austronesian
language
family
and
today,
nearly
all
languages
in the
Pacific
are
categorized
as
Austronesian.
Over the
last
several
decades,
successive
developments
in
different
fields
such as
archaeology,
linguistics
and
biology
have
shaped,
strengthened
and won
general
consensus
on this
theory. |
| |
|
| Marshall
Islands Colonization |
| The
earliest
radiocarbon
tests
from
archaeological
sites in
the
Marshalls
generally
cluster
around
the
2,000
years
before
present
mark.
This
evidence
suggests
that the
first
signature
of human
occupation
or
activity
in these
islands
occurred
in and
around
the late
B.C. or
early
A.D.
period.
While
the
exact
settlement
pattern
that
occurred
within
the
Marshalls
remains
arguable,
it is
generally
agreed
upon
that the
Marshall
Islands
were
colonized
from
areas to
the
south
and
southwest.
Linguistic,
cultural
and
biological
evidence
links
Marshallese
with the
Eastern
Melanesia/Kiribati
interaction
area. |
| |
|
| Colonial
History |
| The Marshall Islands possess a unique colonial history characterized by early contact with Westerners and a number of colonial regimes. The significant effects of this colonial history have contributed much to the shaping of the modern-day Marshall Islands.
|
| |
| Contact with the Western world occurred relatively early in these islands. The Spanish were the first Europeans to sail into and explore the Pacific (with Magellan landing on Guam in 1521) and during that century at least eight Spanish ships sailed through the Marshall Islands. During these brief early visits, the Marshallese became some of the first Pacific Islanders to establish contact and initiate trade with Westerners.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
Marshallese
Culture |
|
While
dates
and
origins
may
still be
arguable,
the
uniqueness
of the
culture
which
evolved
on these
islands
is
certain.
Marshallese
society
was and
for the
most
part,
still
is,
stratified
into
three
general
classes: |
|
Iroij - Chiefs |
|
The Iroij have ultimate control of such things as land tenure, resource use and distribution, and dispute settlement. |
|
Alap - Clan Heads |
|
The Alap's duties include maintenance of lands and supervision of daily activities. |
|
Rijerbal - Workers |
|
The Rijerbal are responsible for the daily work involved in subsistence, construction, agriculture, etc. |
|
|
|
In
addition,
land is
divided
into
twelve
categories,
ranging
from
Imon
bwij,
land
belonging
to the
whole
lineage,
to
Kitdre,
land
given by
a
husband
to his
wife as
a gift.
Inheritance
is
matrilineal
(passed
through
the
mother). |
|
|
 |
|
“Their canoes display the greatest ingenuity, and I have no doubt that in a ‘civilized’ country they would be ranked amongst the rarest specimens of human industry....They move through the water with astonishing velocity, and in turning to windward, no boats can surpass them.”
Captain of U.S. Schooner, Dolphin in 1824
|
|
|
|
“Their sails consisted of finely braided mats, and were shaped with so much art, that even the closest sidewind could not fail to catch them. A canoe which left Ormed at the same time with us, sailed to our great astonishment, as fast as the Rurick.”
Otto Von Kotzebue, captain of Russian vessel
Rurick, Voyage of Discovery, 1820 |
|
|
|
 While all islanders in the Pacific possessed some sort of navigational technology, Marshallese developed perhaps the most advanced methods of teaching this skill. Young apprentices spent much of their training “feeling” the waves beneath them as they lied on their backs in the ocean, in the process gaining the skill of “seeing” the island causing that wave pattern beneath them. In addition, navigational stick charts of various size and shape were devised to depict complex wave and wind patterns in relation to individual islands, atolls and atoll groups. With these charts, elders were able to more easily explain and teach complex navigational concepts such as wave refraction and swell pattern identification. |
|
|
|
