Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 2 - Oceania - C doc

History and Cultural Relations Becausethe Chambri were apreliterate people, one can only speculateabout theirhistory.. Settlements The three Chambri villages stretch along the shore of C

Chambri 31

drumsareheldtocelebrate marriages,nationalandChristian

religious holidays, and the end of the traditional period of

mourning

Medicine Illness is attributed to spirits, sorcery, the

breakingofpostpartumtaboos,excessive amounts ofimpure

blood in the body, and (for men) contact with menstrual

blood A varietyof traditionalmedical techniques areused;

prominent amongthese are bleeding to removethe impure

blood and burning to relieve pain

Death and Afterife Death is the most important

life-cycle event Mourning consists of one or twodaysofwailing

and dirgesbefore the body is buried After the burial, a formal

periodofmourningisobservedwhichusuallylasts aboutforty

days Duringthistime,peopleare supposedtospeakinlow

voices andare notpermittedtobeattheirdrums.Attheend

ofthe mourningperiod, alargefeastisheldfor the

commu-nity,butthespirit of the dead person isbelievedtofrequent

thevillageorcamp until his or herdeathhas beenavenged.

SeealsoMarind-anim

Bibliography Busse, Mark(1987) "Sister Exchangeamong the Wamek of

the MiddleFly.' Ph.D dissertation, Department of

Anthro-pology, University ofCalifornia, San Diego.

Voorhoeve, C L (1970) -The Languages of the Lake

Murray Area." In Papers in New GuineaLinguistics,editedby

S.Wurm, no 10 PacificLinguistics, Series A, no 25

Can-berra: Australian National University

MARK BUSSE

Chambri

ETHNONYMS: Chambuli, Tchambuli

Orientation

Identification The Chambri (called Tchambuli by Mar-garet Mead) live south of theSepikRiver on an island moun-tain inChambri Lake in EastSepikProvince of PapuaNew Guinea

Location Chambri Lake is approximately 143°10' Eand

4"7' S The lake is created by the overflow of two ofthe Sepik'stributaries This overflowoccursduringthe northwest monsoon season, from September to March, when rainfall nearly doubles in intensity from a dry-season average of 2.07 centimeters to anaverage of3.72 centimeters per month

Demnogphy. In1933, Meadreported thattheChambri populationwasapproximately500people,but it islikely that this estimate wastoo low Itmay well have excluded some 250 people: migrantlaborersaway onplantations, as well as their wivesandchildren remaining on Chambri Island In 1987, the total number of ChambrilivingonChambriIsland, and elsewhere in Papua New Guinea and beyond, was about 1,500 Ofthese, approximately one-half were living in the three contiguous home villages ofKilimbit, Indingai, and Wombun.Thenext-largest clusterofChambrilive in a settle-ment onthe outskirts oftheprovincial capital of Wewak LinguisticAffiliation TheChambri language is a member

of the Nor Pondo Family ofNon-Austronesianlanguagesand

isrelated toYimas, Karawari, Angoram, Murik,and Kopar

History and Cultural Relations Becausethe Chambri were apreliterate people, one can only speculateabout theirhistory It islikelythat their distant an-cestors lived insmall, semisedentary hunting and gathering bands Perhaps in response tothe intrusion of those Ndu speakers whobecamethelatmul, the bands of early Chambri coalescedabout 1,000 yearsago and eventually formed what are now the threeChambrivillageson theshoresof the fish-rich lake TheChambri were contacted first by Australians in the early 1920s, and by 1924 relations between them were wellestablished.Extensivelabormigration to distant planta-tionsbeganin1927 In 1933, Mead and Reo Fortune worked for six months asanthropologistsamong theChambri, and in

1959 Catholic missionaries completed construction at In-dingai village ofthe most elaborate church in the Middle Sepik.Thepeoplesof theSepik River,thoseliving along its northern and southern tributaries and those further south in theSepikHills, are united inaregionaltradingsystembased

oninterpenetrating ecological zones This system links the Chambri with their neighbors-particularly the Mali and Bisis speakers of theSepikHills andthelatmul of theSepik River-in anexchange network that includes not only sub-sistencegoods but ceremonialcomplexes

Settlements The three Chambri villages stretch along the shore of Chambri Island and range in population from 250 to 350

32 Chambri

Eachvillage has five men's houses, althoughatanygiventime

some of them maybe house sitesonly. In itsideal form, a

Chambri men's house is an impressive two-story structure

with highgable ends, surmounted with carvedfinials,large

oval second-story windows, and elaborately carved and

paintedinteriorpostsand otherheavytimbers.Membership

in a men's houseispatrilineallyinherited andincludesmen

from several patricIans Formerly, and to some extent still,

womenmarrying intoaclan livedin alargemultifamilyclan

house Those Chambricurrently residinginWewak liveina

crowded squatters' settlement,aslargeas aChambrivillage,

composedof small houses made ofavariety ofscavengedor

bush materials Theresidentialpatternatthe campinWewak

replicatesthat on ChambriIsland, with migrants from

Kilim-bit, Indingai, and Wombun living in their own respective

sections

Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities The Chambri

subsist primarilyon fishtheycatch andonsagothey either

barter for with surplus fish-astheyhad done priorto

Euro-pean contact-or purchase with money In 1987, the

Chambri acquired 15 percentof their sago throughbarter

Principal sources of income now come from the sale of

smokedfish to migrantlaborersinthetownsandthe sale of

carvingsandother artifactsto artdealersandto tourists.The

Chambri supplement their diet of fish and sago with greens

and fruitsfromtheforest;somealso growwatermelons,yams,

beans, and othervegetablesduringthedryseasononthe

ex-posed lake bottom Chickens and ducks are common, far

more so than pigs

IndustrialArts PriortoEuropean contact, the Chambri

were producers and purveyors of specialized commodities

usedthroughout the MiddleSepikregion.Womenwovelarge

mosquitobags fromrattanand reeds; menmade tools from

stonequarried onChambriMountain.Today,bothmenand

women produce for the touristtrade with women weaving

baskets from reeds andmencarvingwoodenartifacts,based

ontraditional designsof ritual figures

Trade Fish-for-sagobarter marketsarestillregularlyheld

intheSepikHills between Chambri andSepikHillswomen

Inaddition, thereis amarket heldtwice aweekonChambri

where foodstuffsareavailable forpurchase with money

Division of Labor Chamber women are responsible for

fishing, marketing, and food preparation Chambri men, in

addition totheir ritualresponsibilities,buildhouses,canoes,

and carve artifacts Formerly, warfare andproduction and

trade in stonetoolswerealso important maleactivities

LandTenure Land ispatrilineallyinherited as are fishing

areas Womenusethe fishing areasoftheir husbands It is

notuncommon,in addition, forindividuals togain

tempo-rary access to the resourcesoftheir matrilateral kin

Kinship Kin Groups and Descent The Chambri divide

them-selves into over thirty exogamous patricians and into two

sets-oneaffinal and the otherinitiatory-of partially

cross-cutting patrimoieties The patricIans are landowning,

resi-dential, and ceremonial groups named for their founders;

membersrefertoeachotherasthepeople of the same totems, indicating the common inheritance of numerous totemic names and powers Together, all clan members assume re-sponsibility for paying, and receiving payment on, affinal debts

KinshipTerminology Chambrikinshipterminologyisof the Omaha type, using the criterion of mother's brother's daughter equals mother's sister

Marriage and Family Marriage Polygynyhas become increasingly rare since the early 1960s when the Catholicmission became fully estab-lished in the area Mother's brother's daughter marriage is the most commonly stated preference; 30 percent of Chambri marriages do take place with a member of the matrilateral crosscousin'sclan.Although subject to some recent change, mostmarriages arestillwithin the village and virtually all are with other Chambri Given that Chambri settlements are both dense and contiguous, when a woman leaves herclan land to move to that of her husband, she still remains close to her natalkin Marriage involves prestations of bride-wealth, traditionallyinshells and now in money Prestations by wife takers are of greatpolitical importance and provide the con-textfor aclan todemonstrate its wealth and importance In their turn, wife givers reciprocate with food Among non-Catholics, divorce may be initiated by either husband or wife, frequently for reasons of incompatibility or infertility How-ever, divorce is discouraged by kin on both sides since it should involve a return of affinal payments In cases of di-vorce, young children remain with their mothers until they areold enoughto assumepatrilineal responsibilities DomesticUnit Formerly all women lived in large multi-family clan houses,which functioned as maps of family soli-darity and affinal interdependence Each of a man's wives would situatehercookinghearth inthe portion of the house allocated to her husband and fasten there the carved hook bearing the totemic insignia of her ownpatricIan From this hook, she would hang the basket containing a portion of her patrimony ofshellvaluables Today, under the influence of the Catholic church and a cash economy, these houses have beenlargely replaced bysmaller,single-familydwellings Clan members often prefer living in these smaller dwellings be-causethey can better protect private purchased goods, such

asradios, from agnatic claims

Inheritance Property including land, fishing rights, and valuables, as well as ritual prerogatives, implements,andpow, ers, are inherited by male and, to a lesser extent, by female patricIan members

Socialization Mothers takeresponsibility for primary so-cialization; nonetheless, they frequently leave their children withtheir sisters or with otherwomenwhen they haveworkto

do, particularly when they goout tofish Young children are rarely leftwith men who, although affectionate and indul-gent, regard excrement and urine as polluting A bond of greatimportance to Chambri children is with their mothers' brothers Frequently, ifdisgruntled,childrenwillseek solace from these matrilateralkinsmen Moreover, mothers' broth-ers have an essential role as nurturers in the initiation, throughscarification, oftheir sisters' sons

Chambri 33

Sociopolitical Organization

SocialOrganization. Chambrisociety islargely egalitarian

with all patricians, except those linked through marriage,

considered potentialequals For affinallyrelatedclans, wife

givers areregarded as superior to wife takers Gender relations

arealso of relativeequality,withmenandwomenoperating

in largely autonomous spheres The Chambri never

devel-oped a strong male-orented military organization in large

partbecause,asvaluedprovidersofspecialized commodities,

theywere left inrelativepeace Relations oftrade mitigated

also against the development of male dominance because

Chambrimencouldnothave appreciablyincreasedthe flow

ofvaluables to themselvesthroughthe control ofwomen and

theirproducts

PoliticalOrganization. Throughhis ownmarriage(s) and

those of his junior agnates, a Chambri man becomes

im-mersed incomplexobligationsthat provide him with the op

portunity of achieving political eminence The struggle to

makeimpressive affinal payments generateswidespread

com-petition inwhich men try to show that they are at least the

equalof allothersintheir capacitytocompensate wife givers

Those individuals and patricIans unable tocompete in the

politics ofaffinal exchangearelikelytobecomesubsumedas

clients ofthosewho are moresuccessful Inaddition, since

1975 when Papua New Guinea became a nation, the

Chambri have voted in,andhave oftenprovidedcandidates

for, local, regional,provincial, andnationalelections

SocialControl Inthe past,and still toalimited extent,

internal and external socialcontrolwasmaintainedthrough

violence or threatsofviolencefocusingonsorcery and raid,

ing Conflicts wereandare resolvedthroughdebatesinmen's

houses; today, as well, theChambrihaverecourse tothe

judi-cial procedures of the state, suchaslocalandregionalcourts

For Chambri living inWewak,the police areoften calledin

when conflict threatens to get out of control In most of these

cases when policehelpissought,thedisputeissubsequently

settled with payment ofdamages,determined during a

com-munity meeting, followed by a ceremony ofreconciliation

Conflict Although, asmentioned, the Chambri lived in

relative peace with theirneighbors, theywere, onoccasion,

both perpetrators and victims of thehead-huntingraids that

were both sourcesand indicatorsofritualpower

Religion and Expressive Culture

ReligiousBeliefs Since theearly1960stheChambrihave

considered themselves to bestaunchCatholics Theyare, at

the same time, convinced that all power,whether social or

natural, is ancestralpower.Religion-aswell aspolitics and,

indeed,allactivitiesofimportance-focusesonevokingand

embodying ancestralpower through the recitationof(usually

secret) ancestral names.Inadditiontothespirits of the dead

are avariety ofautochthonouspowers that dwellinstones,

whirlpools, trees, and, most importantly, crocodiles AU are

thought to act not only on their own volition but under the

control of those Chambri who know the relevant rituals

Religious Practitioners All adult persons have some

knowledgeofefficaciousnames;bydefinition, powerfulmen

are the mostknowledgeableabout thesenames.Anyone who

knows secretnames-thatis, who haspower-hasthe

capac-ityforsorcery Some men and women have the special capac-itytobepossessed byspirits fromtheirmaternal line in order

todiagnoseillness,misfortune, and thecausesof death Oth-ers contactpaternalspirits in dreams for the same purposes Ceremonies ManyChambri ceremonies are rites of pas-sageduring which persons are increasingly incorporated into theirpatricians Atthe sametime, matrilateral kinare pre-sented with affinal payments to compensate them for the cor-responding diminution of their maternal portion of these per-sons The mostelaborate of these ceremonies is initiation duringwhich young men receive the hundreds of incisions on theirbacks,arms, and upperthighsthatreleasethe maternal blood thatcontributedtotheirfetal development Other cer-emonies, requiringthe evocation of thepowersof particular patricians, are believed to ensure that, for instance, the wet seasonwill come, particular species of fishwillreproduce, and fruits of theforest will be plentiful Through the performance

of such clan-held ceremonial prerogatives and obligations, a totemic divisionoflabor emerges inwhich, through the ef-forts ofall, theuniverse isregulated

Arts. Whether in the form of drums, masks, carved or painted men's house timbers, or decorated hooks, art for the Chambri embodies ancestral powers and/or refers to clan-based claims to those powers.Theart now made for the tour-isttrade is largely derived from theseforms, but it is not in-vested with ancestral power

Medicine Since it is believed thatpeople succumb to dis-easeonlywhentheyaredepletedofpower-sometimes as the resultofsorcery-indigenouscuringpractices attempt to re-store that lostpower This kind of cure can be done through several, frequently combined,means:offended ancestors are compensated, oftenthroughanimalsacrifice; medicines, be-spelled so as to become imbued withancestralpower, are ap-plied to, or consumed by, the sick person Today, the Chambri have access to a local aid postand to mission and provincial hospitals. Western medicine, although eagerly used, has not replaced traditional diagnoses and treatments Death andAfterlife Chambri ideasabout the destination

of spirits are, by their own acknowledgment, inconsistent: spiritsarevariously believed to go totheChristian heaven, to remain inancestral ground, and to travel to a remote place no living being has visited Regardless of any particular view, however, Chambri also insist that thedeadare never very dis-tant.They believe thatthelivingand thedead readilyengage

in eachother's affairs

See alsolatmul

Bibliography

Errington,Frederick, and Deborah Gewertz(1986)."A Con-fluence of Powers: Entropy and Importation among the

Chambri." Oceania 57:99-113

Errington,Frederick,and Deborah Gewertz (1987) Cultural Alternatives anda Feminist Anthropology Cambridge: Cam-bridge UniversityPress

Gewertz, Deborah (1983).SepikRiverSocieties: A Historical Ethnographyof theChambriandTheirNeighbors.NewHaven: Yale University Press

34 Chambri

Gewertz,Deborah,and Frederick Errington (1991).Twisted

Histories, Altered Contets: Representing the Chambri in a

World System Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Mead, Margaret (1935) Sexand Temperament New York

Morrow

DEBORAH GEWIERTZ

Chamorros

ETHNONYM: Tjamoro

TheChamorroaretheindigenousinhabitants ofthe island of

Guamand thesurroundingSouthernMarianaIslands.The

present-day descendants of the precontact Chamorros have a

syncreticculture,greatlyinfluenced bySpanish,Filipino,

Jap-anese, andespeciallyAmericanculture The Chamorro

lan-guage isclassifiedasanAustronesianlanguage.Guam is now

a U.S territory.TheChamorrooccupiedthe five

southern-most islands of the Marianas in Micronesia In 1978 the

Chamorros numbered 75,000, with 52,000 in Guam and

13,500 inthe NorthernMarianas Some communities were

located inland, but most were near the shore with most

houses made ofplant material.Dwellings ofhigh-status

fami-lies,however, often had stonefoundation columns (latte)

Subsistence was based primarily on fish, aroids, yams,

breadfruit, andcoconuts.Ricewasalso grown andeaten on

Guam, the only place the grain was found in precontact

Oceania Chickensweretheonlydomestic animals present

when Europeans arrived Mendidmostof thegardeningas

well asdeep-seafishing while womengathered littoral sea

re-sourcesand cooked Therewas adivision of laborbyclass

Fromtheupperclassescamethesailors, carpenters, fishers,

and warriors, and thehighest class ownedmostofthe land

andcontrolled the production of shell money andcanoes

Woodandstoneworkingwerehighlydevelopedcrafts,aswas

potterymaking.The Chamorros didnotproducetapacloth,

nordid they haveanywovenfabrics

The Chamorros organized themselves into matrilineal

sibs and lineages Descent was matrilineal The traditional

rule of residence isunknown, butit was probably matrilocal

Marriages wereusuallymonogamous,andtherewas

consider-ablepremarital sexual freedom Following thewedding, the

bridegroom owed aperiodof bride-service tohis wife's

par-ents Intermarriagebetween socialclasses wasrestricted, as

the highest classdid not marrydown,and members of the

lowest class were notpermittedtomarryup.TheChamorros

were organized into households, lineages, and clans The

highestlevel of integrationwasthedistrict,whichwas

com-posed ofone or moreneighboring villages Eachlargeisland

had morethan one district Chamorro societywasevidently

characterized byahigh degreeofsocialstratification,

consist-ingof three classes: the matua orchamorri, whichincluded

thehighest-rankingnobles andchiefs;the atchaotormiddle

class; and the mangatchang, whichwastheclassof

common-ers.There was a complicated economic specialization accord-ing toclass, and social intercoursebetween classes was regu-lated by strict rules of etiquette

The districts were the largest politically autonomous units Rivalryandwarfare among the districts was common, and they wereprobably hierarchically ordered The district chief(maga-lahe, which means 'leader" or "firstborn") was thehighest-ranking male relative within the clan Succession wasthrough younger brothers and then through male parallel cousinsandnephews, according to order ofseniority. The deceased ancestors (anite) of the Chamorros were believed to inhabit an underworld paradise These person-nages werealsoworshipped in an ancestor cult for, as the peo-ple'sguardians,the ancestors werefeared and venerated Sha-mans(makana) invoked the anite to bring success in warfare, cureillness, bring rain,andaidfishingexpeditions Certain specialists calledkakahnas could both causeand cure illness

inindividuals Nativedoctors (surnhana) used mainly herbs

in their treatments; these doctors were most often old women Inaddition to the ancestral souls, the Chamorros recognized various other spirits but evidently no powerful deities

Bibliography Carano, Paul,andPedro C Sanchez (1964) A Complete His-tory of Guam Rutland, Vt.: Charles E Tuttle

Thompson, Laura (1945) The Native Culture of the Mari-anas Islands Bernice P Bishop Museum Bulletin no 185 Honolulu

Chimbu

ETHNONYMS: Kuman, Simbu

Orientation Identfication The Chimbu live in the Chimbu, Koro, andWahgi valleysinthe mountainous central highlands of Papua NewGuinea An ethnic and linguistic group, not tra-ditionally a political entity, the Chimbu are speakers of Kuman and related dialects Most people living in the Chimbu homeland identify themselves first and foremost as members of particular dans and tribes-identification as 'Chimbus" isrestricted primarily to occasions of interaction with nonethnicallyChimbus The term Chimbu was given to the people by the first Australian explorers (in the early 1930s) who heard thewordsimbs (an expression of pleased surprise in theKuman language) exclaimed by the people at first meetings with the explorers

Location TheChimbu homeland is in the northern part

of Simbu Province, in the central Cordillera Mountains of New Guinea, around the coordinates 6° S and145" E They live in ruggedmountainvalleys between 1,400 and 2,400

me-Chimbu 35

tersabove sealevel,where theclimateistemperate, with

pre-cipitation averaging between 250 and 320 centimeters per

year To the east live the Chuave andSiane, andtothenorth

livethe Bundhof theupperjimi Valley.Inmany ways

cultur-allyverysimilartotheChimbuaretheKuma(Middle Wahgi)

peoplelivingtothewest.Southofthe Chimbuinthelower

Wahgiand MarigI valleysare Guminepeoples, and farther

southare loweraltitude areas, lightlysettledbyPawaiaand

Mikaru (Daribi) speakers.

Demography. Approximately 180,000 people liveinthe

6,500squarekilometersofSimbu Province.Ofthose, more

thanone-thirdlive in the traditionalhomelandareasof the

Kuman-speakingChimbu In mostofthe northernareasof

the province, population densities exceed 150 persons per

squarekilometer, and in somecensus divisions population

densities exceed 300persons per squarekilometer

Linguistic Affiliation Kuman and related languages

(SinaSina,Chuave,Gumine) arepart of theCentralFamily

of the East New Guinea Highlands Stock of Papuan

languages

History and Cultural Relations

Little archaeological evidence exists for the Chimbu area

proper,but data fromother highlandareassuggest

occupa-tion aslongas30,000 yearsago, possiblywithagriculture

de-veloping8,000yearsbeforethepresent.Itisbelievedthat the

introduction of thesweetpotato(lpomoea baratas)about300

years ago allowed for the cultivation of thisstaple food at

higher altitudeswith asubsequentincrease inthepopulation

ofthearea.Oraltraditionsplace theoriginof theChimbu at

Womkamainthe ChimbuValley, whereasupernaturalman

chased away thehusband of theoriginalcouplelivinginthe

areaand fathered theancestorsof the currentChimbutribal

groups First Western contactoccurred in 1934 when an

ex-pedition,ledbygoldminerMichael Leahy andAustralian

pa-trolofficerJamesTaylor, passedthrough thearea, and soon

afterwardanAustraliangovernmentpatrolpost and Roman

CatholicandLutheranmissions wereestablished.The initial

yearsof colonial administration were marked by efforts to

curtail tribalfightingand establish administrative controlin

the area Limitedgovernment resources and staff made this

goaldifficult, andbythebeginningof World War 11 onlya

tenuous peace hadbeenimposedinparts ofSimbu.

Follow-ingthewar, Australian efforts toextendandsolidify

adminis-trative controlcontinued,local men were recruited as

labor-ers for coastal plantations, and coffee was introduced as a

cash crop.Establishmentof electedlocalgovernment

coun-cils after 1959 wasfollowed by representationof the area in a

territorial(laternational)legislativebody and bythecreation

of a provinciallegislature Localtribal politics remain

impor-tant andtribal affiliationgreatlyinfluences theparticipation

in these new political bodies

Settlements

In contrast to highland areas to the east, Kuman Chimbu do

not arrange their houses into villages but rather have a

dis-persed settlement pattern Traditionally, menlived in large

men's houses set on ridges for purposes ofdefense,apartfrom

women, girls, and youngboys Each married woman and her

unmarried daughters, young sons, and the family's pigs lived

in a house that was situated some distance from the men's house andin or nearthe family's gardens Bysituating their housesnear the gardens, women were able to remain close to their work and better manage theirpigs, afamily's greatest economic asset Although thishousingpatternstillexists to someextent,reductioninthesegregationof thesexes, reduce tion in tribal fighting, and economicdevelopment have re-sultedin more menlivingwith their families in houses that are located near coffee gardens and roads Most Chimbu housesareoval orrectangular,with dirtfloors,lowthatched roofs, andwalls wovenfromflattened reeds

Economy

SubJsstence and Commercial Activities The primary subsistence crop in Simbu is the sweet potato Grown in fenced and tilled gardens, sometimes onslopes as steep as

450, sweet potatoes provide food for both peopleand pigs Sweetpotatoes are the main food at everymeal, comprising about 75 percent of thediet.Over 130 sweetpotato cultivars,

orvarieties, are grown in differentmicroenvironmentsandfor different purposes Sweet potatogardensareusually made in grass or forest fallowareas bydigging ditches in agridwork pattern toformacheckerboardlikepatternofmounds 3 to 4 square meters in size onwhichvinecuttings are planted Gar-dens are planted throughout the year, with impending re-quirementsfor food,suchas theneedformore sweet potatoes forupcomingfoodexchangesandincreased pig herds, influ-encingplantingasmuchas climateseasonality.Inaddition to sweetpotatoes, other crops grown for consumption include sugarcane, greens,beans, bananas, taro,andnutandfruit va-rietiesofpandanus.Pigs arebyfarthemostimportant domes-ticated animaltothe Chimbu and are thesupremevaluable, sacrificedtothe ancestors inpre-Christiantimes and blessed before slaughter today Pigs, killed andcooked,arethe main itemused in the many ceremonial exchanges that are crucial

tocreatingandcementingthemanysocial relationships be-tween individuals By giving partners pork, vegetables, money,andpurchaseditems (suchasbeer) thecontributors create adebtthatthe receivers must repay in the future in order not tolose valued prestige These exchanges occur at various times,forvariousreasons-forexample, to celebrate marriage, to compensatefor injury or death, or to thank a wife's natal kIngroup for the children born into the hus-band'sclan.By farthe largestofthese exchangeceremonies is thepig ceremony (bugla ingu), at which hundreds or even thousandsofpigs areslaughtered, cooked,and distributed to friendsandaffinesat thefinalclimax of events.Moneyhas become anincreasingly important item exchanged in these ceremonies For mostrurd people,money is primarily earned through the growing of coffee in small, individually con-trolled gardens In addition to coffee, money is acquired through the selling of vegetables inlocalmarkets and, for a small minority, through wage employment

Industrial Arts and Trade Crafts of clothing and tool makingare now largely abandoned, their products replaced with items manufactured beyond the localcommunitiesand purchased in stores AUsubsistencework,before contact, re-lieduponthe skillful useoflocal woods, fibers, canes,stone and bonematerials, and a few trade items Ingeneral, men madethe wooden tools and weapons and constructed fences

36 Chimbu

and houses; theyalso made artifacts of cane, bamboo,and

bark

DivisionofLabor As inprecolonialtimes, thedivision of

laborremainsbasedprimarilyupongender.Menfell trees,till

thesoil,digditches,andbuild fences andhouses;womendo

the bulk ofthegardenplanting,weeding,andharvesting,care

forthechildren,cook,andcarefor pigs.Menarealso

respon-sible forpoliticalactivitiesand, in timeof tribalwarfare,

de-fenseof the territory The production of coffee isprimarily

the responsibility of men, andthe few Chimbus with wage

employment are almost exclusively men Predominantly,

women sell items (mostly fresh vegetables) in the local

markets

LandTenure Each family's land is divided among a

num-ber ofdifferent plots, oftenondifferent types of soil at

differ-ent altitudes Landtenure in Chimbuismarkedbyrelative

fluidity Mostcommonly landisjointlyinherited froma

fa-thertohis sons Butit is notunusual forassociationswith

moredistant agnates and withkinoraffinesinother clansto

result inrightstousetheirland Rightstoland infallow

re-maininthehandsoftheprevioususersolongasthose rights

aredefended.Despitethe highpopulation densitiesinmost

partsofChimbu, absolute landlessnessisunknown because

oftheabilityofindividualstoacquire landthroughanyofa

numberofdifferentcontacts.Butthe advent ofcash cropping

has led toalackof landsuitable forgrowingcoffeeand other

tree crops Therefore, althoughland for foodisavailable to

all, access tothemeans to earnmoneythrough commodity

production has become limited This lack of landsuitablefor

cash crops has ledto alargenumberofChimbus,over30

per-cent in somehigher altitudeareas,tomigrate awayfrom their

hometerritories to townsandlower, less crowdedruradlands

Kinship

KinGroupsand Descent Chimbuviewtheirkingroups

asconsistingofpatrilinealsegments,'brother'groups,which

havedescendedfromacommonpatrilineal 'father"ancestor

The clan,withanaveragepopulationof600-800,istheusual

unitofexogamy.Clannames areoftentakenfrom the

ances-tralfounder'snamecombined withasuffix meaning'rope."

Clans arefurtherdividedintosubclans, kingroups with

be-tween 50 and 250 persons The subclan groupisoften the

mainorganizingunit atceremonial events, suchasmarriages

andfunerals,andsubclanmembers undertakesomejoint

ag-riculturalactivities Smallergroups aresometimesidentified

within thesubclan.These'oneblood"ormen'shouse groups

consistof dose agnatesorlineagemates

Kinship Terminology. Kinshipterms areclassificatory by

generationandbifurcate merging,distinguishingsexand

rel-ative age among siblings and father'ssiblings

Marriage and Family Marriage Marriage inChimbu, as in many parts of the

world, represents a social and economic link between the

groom's kingroupandthebride'skin group The ceremony

reflects this witha largenumber ofvaluables, primarilypigs

and money, negotiated and arranged by senior members of

clan segments and given asbride-price Men areusually in

theirearly twentieswhen theyarefirst married, women are

usually aged15to18.Residenceafter marriageisusually

pat-rivirilocal Polygynyisstill common,althoughtheinfluence

of Christian missions has reduced its occurrence Having morethan one wifeiseconomicallyadvantageous for men be-cause women arethe primarylaborersinthe gardens.Until the birth ofchildren,marriagesareveryunstable,but divorce occurs sometimes yearsafter children areborn

Domestic Unit Until recently, men always lived sepa-rately from their wives incommunal men's houses, joining their wives andchildrenmostoften in thelate afternoon at mealtime.Coresidenceofamarried couple in a single house

isbecomingmorecommon Ifamanhas more than onewife, eachwifelives in a separate house and has her own gardens

Anindividual manand hiswife or wives are the primary pro-ductive unit Oftenclosely related men will cooperate in the fencing and tilling or adjacent garden plots Households commonly join othersduringshort visits

Inheritance Brothersjointly inherittheir father's land in crops aswell as rights to fallow and forestland Usually most

ofthelandisdistributed to sons after they are married, when thefather getsolder and becomes less active Other valuables aredistributed to otherkinafter a man dies Land of childless men isredistributedbysenior men ofthe clan segment Socializadon. Infantsand children ofboth sexes are cared forprimarilyby their mothers and other sisters At about the ageof 6 or 7, boysmove inwiththeirfathers iftheylive in a separatemen's house Starting at about age 7, about half of Chimbu children begintoattendschool Up to adolescence Chimbugirls spend large amounts of time with their mothers, helping indailywork Boys form play sets with others of simi-lar agefrom the same area, and these sets of related boys form relationships that last through adulthood The initiation rit-ual formales, held during the preparation for the pig cere-mony, involved the seclusion and instruction ofboys and young men atthe ceremonial ground in the meaning of the koa flutes and other ritual questions and proper behavior Sincethefestivals were held at intervals of seven to ten years, and all youths who had not previously participated were taken, itwasamen's group riteratherthan apuberty cere-mony The initiates weresubject tobloodletting and painful ordeals These ceremonies have ceased, except for revealing theflutes to young people at the time of the feast At first menstruation, girls were secluded and for a few days (or weeks)instructed in proper behavior, and then their passage wascelebrated with afamilyfeast including members of the localsubclanandkinsmen Some girls are stillsecluded and celebrated in afamily rite

Sociopolitical Organization SocialOrganizaton. Chimbu society isorganized around membership in agnatic kin groups with small groups at the lower level combining with other groups toform larger indu-sivememberships, muchlike a segmentary lineage system In-dividualloyalties and associationsare generally strongest at thesmallest, leastinclusivelevelassociatedwith common res-idence areas and shared resources The clan, the largest exog-amousgroup, commonly acts as a unit in large ceremonial ac-tivities and does have a common territory The largest indigenoussociopolitical organization is thetribe Thetribe, numbering up to 5,000 people, acts as a defensive unit in timesof tribal fights with people from other tribes The

mar-Choiseul Island 37

riages contracted between members ofdifferent clans and

tribesarefundamentalinestablishingpoliticaland economic

relationships beyondthe local leveL

PoliticalOrganization. Intraditionaltimesthetribewas

thelargest political unit, but parliamentary democracy, begun

in the late 1950s and early 1960s, created constituencies

muchlargerthan thetraditionalkin-basedpoliticalunits,but

the influence of small local groups centered on leaders, called

"big-men,"has notdiminished.Thesemen areinfluentialin

organizing ceremonialexchangesoffoodandmoney, aswell

asrallyingsupportforthe candidaciesof thosestandingfor

election.Typicallymorethanone man fromeach tribalgroup

stands inelections,fracturing supportamongmanylocal

can-didates and allowing the successful candidate to win with

often less than 10 percent of the total votes Inmanyways

modemparliamentarypoliticshas not increased the scale of

Chimbupoliticalgroups-even national-levelpoliticianscan

gain office with afollowingnotmuchlargerthan those

sup-portingsome traditionalleaders inthe past

SocialControl and Conflict Although the possibility of

violence, between family members as well as betweenlarge

tribalgroups,servestocontrolpeople's actions,mediationby

third parties, oftenpolitically important men, is moreoften

used toprevent or resolvedisputes.Accusationsofwitchcraft

arealsoleviedagainstthosewhoareperceivedtobe

threaten-ingagnatic group strength, usually against women, who marry

into the group andare seen sometimes tohave divided

loyal-ties.Warfareoccursbetweendifferent tribesandoccasionally

between clanswithinatribe.Traditionally,therelations

be-tween tribes were characterized by a permanent state of

en-mity,whichserved as an importantcontributingfactortothe

unity ofatribe Inthedecadesfollowing colonialcontact

war-fare at first diminished, only to reappear in the 1970s

Al-though theincidenceofwarfareisrelatedtocompetition over

scarceland, often the incident that precipitates fighting is a

dispute overwomen, pigs, or unpaiddebts

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs The indigenous Chimbu religion had

no organized priesthood orworship The sun was seen as a

major spirit offertility. Supernatural belief and ceremonies

concentrated on appealing to ancestral spirits who, if

pla-catedthroughthe sacrifice ofpigs,were believedtoprotect

groupmembersandcontributetothegeneral welfareof the

living Although many traditional supernatural beliefs still

exist, variousChristiansectsclaim themajority of Chimbus

as members

Ceremonies Of the most important traditional

ceremo-nies, initiation ofboysinto the men's cult isnolonger

prac-ticed(having been actively discouraged by missionaries); the

large pig-killing ceremonies (bugla ingu) are still held but

with less emphasis on the sacrificing ofpigs to ancestral

spirits

Arts The visual arts are concentrated onbody decoration

withshells, feathers, wigs, and face paint being worn at times

of ceremonial importance Songs, poetry, drama, and stories

are important as forms of entertainmentandeducation

Mu-sical instrumentsincludetwotypes ofbambooflutes,wooden

andskin-covered drums,and bambooJew'sharps.

Medicine Illness and sudden death are attributed to witchcraft, sorcery, and transgression of supernatural sanc-tions There was a very limited traditional herbal medical technology, but for most illnesses the people now make use of thegovernment medicalaidposts and hospitals

Death and Afterlife Although Christian beliefs have modifiedtraditionalbeliefs, it is still thoughtby many that after death one's spiritlingers near the place ofburial Deaths causedby sorcery or warthatare not revenged result in a dan-gerous, discontented spirit that can cause great harmtothe living Chimbustoriesarereplete withaccountsofdeceiving ghosts

Seealso Darbi, Gururumba, Melpa, Siane

Bibliography

Bergmann, W (1971) The Kamanuku 4 vols Mutdapilly, Australia: The Author

Brookfield, Harold, and Paula Brown (1963) Struggle for Land:Agriculture and Group Territories among the Chimbu of the New Guinea Highlands Melbourne: Oxford University

Press

Brown, Paula (1972) The Chimbu: A Study of Change in the New Guinea Highlands Cambridge, Mass.:Schenkman Nilles,J.(1943-1944; 1944-1945) 'Natives of the Bismarck Mountains, New Guinea." Oceania 14:104-123; 15:1-18 Nilles,J. (1950-195 1) 'The Kuman of the Chimbu Region, Central Highlands, NewGuinea." Oceania 21:25-65 Nilles,J.(1953-1954) "The Kuman People: A Study of Cul-turalChange ina PrimitiveSocietyin theCentral Highlands

ofNew Guinea." Oceania 24:1-27; 119-131

Ross, 1 (1965)."ThePuberty Ceremonyof the ChimbuGirl

in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea." Anthropos 60:423-432

KARL RAMBO AND PAULA BROWN

ETHNONYMS: Lauru, Rauru

Orientation Identification Choiseul Island is the northwesternmost island in the Solomon Islands chain of thewestern South Pa-cific, lying between Bougainville Island and Papua New Guineato thewest,SantaIsabelto theeast,and VellaLavella andNew Georgia to the south, all of which are 40 to 80 kilo-meters distant

38 Choiseul Island

Location Choiseul covers an area of 2,100 square

kilome-ters, is about 130kilometerslong and12.8 to32.2kilometers

across, and is generally a mass ofdeep valleys and sharp,

jungle-cladridges, mostlybetween 243 to606meters in

ele-vation (maximum eleele-vation 160 meters) Average daytime

coastal temperature is260 to32° C, and rainfall averages 254

to 508 centimeters per year

Demography. In1956 the native Melanesianpopulation

was about 5,700; in the early 1980s it was estimated to be

7,900 It seems to be growingrapidly because of decreased

in-fant mortality and increasedlongevity, both attributable to

improved healthcare

LinguisticAffiliation ThepeoplesofChoiseulspeak four

different Melanesian languages, all more similar to one

an-other than to those spoken on adjacent islands Dialectal

variation is small except for the central-eastern language,

which has the most speakers and the widest distribution

Ul-timately, thelanguagesofChoiseul,of SantaIsabel, and of

New Georgia anditsneighbors form one set that is related

most closely tothelanguages ofBougainville and, through

them, to the languages of the Central and Southern

Solomons

History and Cultural Relations

No archaeological work has been done on Choiseul, but

based on the linguistic variation, it has been estimated that

the island has been occupied for about 3,500 years It was

sighted by European explorers in 1568 and in 1768butitwas

not until the late 1800sthatthepeoplehadsignificant

con-tact with persons other than the inhabitants of the

neighbor-ing islands, and their interactions with the latter were

typi-cally hostileand violent.Amajoreffectofcontactwiththe

outsideworld was uneven accesstofirearms,andthat

devel-opment increased the deadliness of the intergroup conflict

that was endemic on and between the islands of the Western

Solomons Choiseulandother islandsweretransferredfrom

the German to the British colonialspherein 1899.Christian

missionaries thenbegantoworkthe area, andtheyfoundits

peoples ready and more or less willing to be pacified and

Christianized On Choiseul, intergroup warfare continued

hereandthereintothe 1920s,but well before thebeginning

ofWorldWar11the islandwasfully pacifiedand

Christian-ized (in different areas by Methodists, Catholics, and

Seventh-DayAdventists).Other forms ofEuropean

penetra-tion such ascoconutplantationshavebeenverylimitedand

sporadic.FewJapaneseorAlliedtroopssetfootonChoiseul,

so it was only indirectly affected bythe WorldWar II The

Solomonsbecame anindependentnation in 1978,but that

had little effectonChoiseul,whichremainsisolated and

se-verely underdeveloped

Settlements Prior to pacification and Christianization, the bulk of the

populationlivedinlandonridgetops, eitherincompact and

sometimes fortifiedvillagesofuptofiftyhouses, orinsmall

hamlets ofafewhouses each located closertogardens.Large

canoes and canoe houses were hiddenin the coastal flats,

which were too vulnerable to attack for permanent residence

The government and missions encouraged compact

settle-ment onthe coastalflats where healthandeducational

ser-vices could be provided; by the beginning ofWorld War 11 few inland villagesremained,and today there are none Most vil-lages are now rows of houses strung out along a flat of coast-line and flanked with the coconut plantations owned and workedby some inhabitants Houses, now as before, are made from palmand vine materials; most families now maintain a sleeping house (which may feature prestigious corrugated-iron roofing) raised off the sandy surface by stilts 1.2 to 1.5 meters high; behind it there is usually an on-theground cookhouse inwhich older peoplesleepto keep warm Most villages have ahouselikechurchthat is used also as a school, and some have a dispensary stocked with minor medical supplies

Economy SubsistenceandCommercialActivities Prior to coloni-zation, subsistence was mainly by shifting, slash-and-burn horticulture; the principal food crops were taro, yams, and ba-nanas Alsoseasonally andrituallyimportant was the ngan nut or Canarmi almond, groves of which were privately owned Meat sources included opossums and wildpigs;some domestic pigs werekeptfor ceremonial feasts Seafishing was not a major source of food, and theChoiseulesedo not think

ofthemselves as a sea people but as a bush people who now happen to live on thebeach.Becausethere is ablight that at-tacks most forms of taro, the principal food (introduced by themissions) is now the sweet potato; it issupplementedby white rice acquired from Chinese traders and, again, by ba-nanas, papayas, and wild but edibleflora and fauna Aside from working off the island as wage laborers, which only young men do, the only source of cash income is the sale of copra to Chinese traders Ownership of coconut plantations

is unevenly distributed and so also are cash incomes and de-sired commodities (tobacco, tea, pots and pans, tools, rice, tinned meat) The local economy is severely dependent on fluctuations in the world market for copra

IndustrialArts and Trade Ground stone and shell tools were replaced early on by metal axes and saws A distinctive form ofshell'money" knownas kesawas attributed a mythi-calorigin,but other shell rings anddisksused as money or as ornaments were manufactured locally or were imported from the Roviana region to the south

Division of Labor Most domestic labor was and still is done by women and girls who do also much of theplanting, weeding, and harvesting of the crops and the gathering of fire-wood Men and boys do most of theworkof preparing the land for planting, gather materials for houses, and occasion-ally hunt and fish Men occupy all positions of publicsignify cance-village headman, preacher-teacher, officer of the local court

Land Tenure Ownership of land is by kin groups known

as sinangge, but ownership of trees is by single persons Be-cause only flatter strips along the shoreline suitable for coco-nut plantations are really valuable and because such land is in very short supply, land-tenure disputes are common and diffi-cult to settle

Kinship

Kin Groups The term sinangge (Varisi language) desig-nates both the egocentric personal kindred and the cognatic

Choiseul Island 39

stockconsisting of all descendants ofamarriedpair, whether

through malesor females Named unitsof the latter kind,

some seven to twelve generations in depth, are associated

with large areas of land, some of it said tohave been first

cleared by the foundingancestor;in someinstancesthatarea

is dividedbetweendifferent branches ofthemajorsinangge

Anymemberof asinangge-andeach person isamember of

more thanone-hasarighttouseof someofitslandfor

sub-sistencepurposes but cannot alienate it fromthegroup

Usu-ally a subsetof themembersof suchacognaticstock reside

together at some place on itsland andformacohesive

politi-cal,economic, andceremonial unit via commonallegianceto

a big-man leader; the localgroup centering on such a

sin-angge may include not only the spouses and relatives of

spouses of sinangge members, but also long- orshort-term

visitors, some of whom (in the past) may have been enjoying

theprotectionofits big-man orleader Inprinciple

member-shipin the'littlesinangge"isalwaysopen to members ofits

more inclusive sinangge, and any individual may freely

choosetoaffiliate himselforherself with any localsinangge

withinanylargesinangge ofwhichhe or she is a member In

practice, each local sinangge effectively controls who is

al-lowedadmissionto itsranks;althoughit cannotadmit to its

rankspersons notdescended fromthe relevantapical

ances-tor, it canexclude persons who aresuchdescendants

Descent Descendants ofa sinangge founder are divided

intothose related to himsolelythroughmen (i.e.,his

patri-lineal descendants) and thoserelatedtohimthroughatleast

one female tie(i.e.,hisnonpatrilinealdescendants).This

dis-tinction isrelevant onlyininternalaffairs; ithas nobearing

onmembershipstatus per se

Kinship Terminology This system departs from being

simply "generational"orHawaiian-like onlyinhavinga

dis-tincttermfor a mother's brother(not 'father")andin

desig-nating a man's sister's child as 'grandchild."

Marriage and Family

Marriage Kingroupswereandareneitherexogamousnor

endogamous in principle, and kinship beyond first- or

second-cousin range is notabar Themostprestigious formis

via payment ofbride-wealthinthe form ofkesa,inwhichcase

postmarital residence is in thecommunity of the husband

and his family.Whenbride-wealthis notgiven the husband is

expected to residewiththebride and hernatalfamily, and

their offspring areexpectedtoremainactivemembers of the

wife's littlesinangge

Domestic Unit In the early years ofmarriage a couple

usually resides in the same house as the parents ofone of

them Asthey acquire childrentheyexpandinto ahouse and

gardens of their own, usually located in the same village;

sub-sequent residence might be in virtually anyvillageinwhich

ei-ther spouse haskin, thoughthereisofcourse astrong

prefer-ence for residprefer-ence with closekinsuchasparentsorsiblings.

Inheritanceand Succession Heritable forms ofproperty

includeskesaand groves of valuabletrees, both of which

de-volve equally on a man's sons,thoughit seemslikelythat,in

the case of abig-man,the eldestson orlikelysuccessorwould

attempt to acquireallthe shellmoney.Abig-man'seldestson

was entitled to succeedhim,butonlyif theson was anable

leader

Sociopolitical Organization

PoliticalOrganization. Intheprecolonialera law and pol itics weredominated by competition, and often violent con-flict, between big-men who were at the centers of factions fo-cused ontheir own little sinangge.These men were expected

toprotect their followers from external violence and to assist them in getting revenge or compensation; they sought mili-tary support from otherbig-mento whomtheyhadto prom-isecompensation in kesa presented ceremonially at a feast A big-man'sfollowers supported him in defensive and offensive action and bycontributing to his ceremonial feasts Social Control Aside from contractual relations estab-lished between big-men, and between big-men and some of their followers, the rights and duties of persons vis-a-vis one another were (and still are) mainly those entailed by kinship, and they were (and are) enforced mainly by expectations of reciprocity Otherwise the only recourse was toself-help (in the extremeinstance totakeby stealth the life of the offend-ingparty)or tosecuringthe aidorprotectionofabig-man. Conflict The precolonial history of Choiseul was domi-nated byviolent conflict between big-men, or between con-tractual alliances ofbig-men, and their factions This conflict often took the form of a group making a surprise attack at dawnon avillage, burningitshousesandkilling all of its in-habitants who didnotmanagetoescape.Therewasno taking

of land orcaptives, though raiders from New Georgia to the south tookheads forreligiouspurposes

Religion and Expressive Culture ReligiousBeliefs Present-day Choiseulese are all Chris-tiansandchurchservicesarea dailyroutineinallvillagesof sufficient size to have a residentpreacher-teacher; the abo-riginalreligion has not beenpracticed (openlyat least) for severaldecades Theaboriginal cosmology included various bangara or "gods" and 'spirits" ofthe bush, some good, someevil, as well as ghostsof thedead.Somelittle sinangge kept shrinesdedicated to particular gods or bangara and one member ofthegroupregularly madeofferings offood there

inorder to securethegod's blessings for the group; usually thatgod is reputed to have presented itself to the group The ghosts of greatestsignificance and alleged power were those

offormer big-men; their sinangge might propitiate them but their influence for good or ill was not restricted to that group, and theirkin who were notmembers of the group could propitiate thematthat shrine Anyone could main-tain a shrine for and give offerings of food to recently de-ceased parents orgrandparents

ReligiousPractitioners Somemen were thought to have thespecialskill of beingabletocommunicate withgods, spir-its, or ghosts and to discern whether personal misfortune arose from sorceryor thedispleasure of such a being Death and Afterlife Thecorpsewas usually disposed of

bycremation, but in some areas interment and later exhuma-tion of theboneswerepreferred Ashesand boneswere putin

a clay pot and often placed in a shrine somewhere in the nearby forest or, in the case of a big-man, in a larger shrine maintained by the sinangge of which he was once the leader The spirit of the deceasedmightremain around thevillage for

a while andoccasionallyreveal itself(an ominous sign of

dis-40 Choiseul Island

satisfaction); buteventually itdeparted to the land of the

dead, Ungana, somewhere highonBougainville Island.Life

therewasmuch thesame asamong theliving, thoughwith

lit-tle work andmuch happiness

SeealsoNewGeorgia

Bibliography Bennett,JudithA.(1987).WealthoftheSolomons:AHistory

ofaPacificArchipelago, 1800-1978 Honolulu:Universityof

HawaiiPress

Scheffler, HaroldW.(1965).Choiseul Island Social Structure

Berkeley: University ofCaliforniaPress

HAROLD W.SCHEFFLER

Cook Islands

ETNONYMS: Cook Islanders, Cook Islands Maoris

Orientation Identification The Cook Islandsis anindependentstate

in an associated-staterelationshipwith New Zealand.It has

its ownparliamentandgovernmentandits ownlawsand

ju-diciary,but defensemattersandforeign policyshouldbe

han-died, accordingtotherelationship,inconsultation with New

Zealand Inpracticethe Cook Islands has takenradically

dif-ferent policies on some issues from New Zealand without

consultation (e.g.,NewZealand forbidsvisitsbynuclear

war-ships whereas the Cook Islandspermitsthem), and the Cook

Islands has its own minister and ministryofforeign affairs

designation'CookIslanders"includes all persons tracing

ge-netic ancestry to one (or more) of the twelveinhabited

is-lands of the Cookgroup. Thisis notexclusive, however, as

probably all Cook Islanders also havesomenon-Polynesian

blood Significant European genetic and cultural influence

beganabout 150years agoandhas continued to the present.

Arelatively smallAfricangeneticbutnotculturalinfluence

begannotlong after,butit ceased with thewhaling industry

latenineteenthcentury, and a recent minorinputof diverse

Asian peoples is occurring. Residence within the Cook

Is-landsis far from a necessary criterion foridentity as about

two-thirds of all peoplewho consider themselves Cook

Is-landerslivein NewZealand, Australia,or elsewhere overseas.

Location The Cook Islands stretch from 156 to 167° W

and 3to 23°S The total landarea isonly 240square

2.2 millionsquare kilometers

Demography The 1986 residentpopulationofthe Cook

Islandswas16,425.Thepopulationis static as thehigh

natu-ral growthrate isbalancedbytherateof emigrationtoNew

Zealand andAustralia,toboth ofwhich Cook Islanders have automaticright of entry About 87 percent of the population live in the southern group, which are high islands, and the re-mainder in the northern atolls Residents with no indigenous bloodtiesnumberintheseveralhundreds,mostofwhom are Europeansliving on the capital island of Rarotonga

linguistic Affiliation Each island, and in the case of Mangaia, eachvillage had some minor linguistic differences from the others In all cases except Pukapuka and Nassau, however, theseweredialects of a basically common Eastern Polynesian Austronesian language, whose closest relatives are foundinFrenchPolynesia andNewZealand The language of Pukapuka and Nassau is Western Polynesian, as is the cul-ture TodayCookIslands Maori is the language of govern-mentandthe church,andallCook Islanders learn English in schooL

History and Cultural Relations

Almost every island culture has a unique origin or origins out-sidetheCookIslands The only exceptions are Manihiki and Rakahanga,which trace acommon originfrom Rarotonga, andit ispossible that thefirstof many migrations into Man-gaiawasalso from Rarotonga Rarotongaitself traces its earli-estsettlers tothe Marquesas early in the Christian era, but these peoples were dominated by a migration perhaps 800 years ago from Raiatea in the Society Islands A migration from Manu'ainSamoa,ledby the defeated chiefTui Manu'a, hadasignificant butnotdominant influence on Rarotongan history, though not on its culture Later migrants from vari-ousislands of Polynesia were absorbed but seem not to have had any cultural impact The other islands trace their origins mainly to the SocietyIslands, excepting Pukapuka's diverse origins fromthe west and occasional later incursions, such as that of Tongans to Mangaia long after settlement by Eastern Polynesians It is also possible that Tongareva, the northern-mostatoll, was settled very early by Western Polynesians, with Eastern Polynesian influence following later Settlement by Europeansand others was never extensive, but it was very in-fluentialinbringing radical changetothe religion, technol-ogy, economy, political system, and some values

Settlements Most Cook Islanders traditionally lived in hamlets (of per-haps fiftypeople)whichwere accessible to their agricultural lands.TheLondon Missionary Society, beginning its work in the CookIslandsin1821,persuaded the people to resettle in villages in groups of a few hundred or, in some cases, more than a thousand people This policy soon coincided with commercial convenience, as the people came to value im-ported commodities and to export their own products, and withadministrative convenience: initially that of their own chiefs, then from 1888 that of the British Protectorate, and from 1901 that of the New ZealandDependency On Raro-tonga,due mainly to its greater size, the advent of motor vehi-cles(of which most families own at least one) has led in the past twenty years to resettlement in individual homes on the landbeing farmed