Pacific Islands

A group of more than 2,000 islands and islets of the northwest Pacific Ocean administered by the United States as a United Nations trust territory from 1947 to 1978. It originally included the Caroline, Marianas (excluding Guam), and Marshall islands. Most parts of the territory, including Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands, are now self-governing.

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The diverse cultures of Australia and the 7000 to 10000 islands of the Pacific have been shaped by isolation, migration and contact within their vast ocean setting, forces that have in turn influenced local styles of music and dance. The region may be divided into four principal areas: Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia and Australia.

Our knowledge of the music of Oceania dates from accounts of early explorers and missionaries, including Captain James Cook, who provided excellent descriptions of native art in journals from his three voyages (1768-80); early accounts portray a relatively homogeneous musical style which still persists. Music and dance are important throughout the area and are inextricably linked with poetry, particularly in Polynesia and Melanesia. Vocal music predominates; many remote atolls lack indigenous instruments. Since the second half of the 18th century there has been much musical change throughout the Pacific, with the introduction of Western church music, whalers' chanties and modern genres of popular music. Indigenous forms are preserved, either as an aspect of deliberate traditionalism as in New Zealand and Hawaii or as a result of slower acculturative processes on more remote islands. In modern times, inter-island festivals have encouraged the mixing of local indigenous styles, supplying a complex mosaic of cultural processes: acculturation, especially Westernization as in Christian hymns and ‘pan-Pacific pop’, modernization, revitalization of traditional forms and the marginal survival of archaic music and dance.

The region of Melanesia includes Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea as well as many smaller atolls. Melanesian music is less dominated by text than is that of Polynesia or Micronesia. Songs are often in archaic languages unintelligible to performers and listeners alike. The dominant style is monophonic singing in unison or octaves, with call-and-response forms. Melodies may be triadic or pentatonic, though some have a limited range, often a 3rd. Music and dance accompany long ceremonial cycles, often lasting ten years or more. The Solomon Islands are distinguished by complex polyphonic panpipe music. Bamboo panpipes are made in various sizes and may be played solo, to accompany song, or in orchestras which rehearse regularly; panpipe pieces have composers, and highly developed local theories exist for this music.

The islands of Polynesia cover a wide area, from New Zealand to Hawaii, with a surprisingly unified musical style, partly due to extensive migration prompted by overpopulation. Music and dance are usually associated with poetry and the rhythm of songs is generally bound to that of the text. Among the Maori of New Zealand, the importance of text encourages strict rhythms and firm unison singing. Traditional Maori chants include lullabies, laments, incantations, love songs, historical and genealogical recitations and dance songs. Some Maori chant is based on a reciting tone and has a style between speech and song; other genres have three- or four-note melodies (the pitches do not generally correspond to those of the Western diatonic scale). Chants may be accompanied by body percussion - stamping, clapping and slapping. The music most often heard in Polynesia, however, reflects Western influence, for example the himene of Tahiti, which use Western-style counterpoint with a local-style drone.

Micronesian music is little researched. Song predominates, often with simple drone polyphony or parallel intervals, especially 4ths. As in Polynesia, music and dance are an extension of poetry. Line dances and sitting dances, with arm and hand movements, are common throughout the Micronesian islands.

Australian music includes the genres of the Anglo-European settlers who arrived in Australia from the 18th century onwards, as well as songs of the various European-derived ethnic minorities, such as Greeks and Italians, and some Asian groups, particularly Indians. The oldest culture of Australia is preserved by the Aborigines. Music and dance form an integral part of their daily life, accompanying rites of passage, embodying their mythology and genealogy and providing entertainment, especially in the gossip-song repertory. Aboriginals have had little contact with other Oceanic peoples and their musical style is distinct. Unison group performance is the norm, although polyphony is practised in Arnhem Land. The most common Aboriginal instrument is the didjeridoo, a long, hollow eucalyptus branch, blown like a trumpet; through the technique of circular breathing the player can achieve a sustained note and it is possible to produce two pitches a 10th apart. Rhythmic accompaniment to song is provided by clapping and concussion rhythm sticks. As elsewhere throughout the Pacific region the bullroarer, a small wooden plaque whirled on a string, is used in religious ceremonies.

Most instruments of the Pacific islands have extra-musical functions, in rituals, for signalling, as lures, to imitate the voices of supernatural beings and as toys. They are generally of simple construction, for example, bamboo flutes without finger-holes, sounded by mouth in Melanesia and Micronesia, or by nasal breath in Polynesia and Micronesia (‘nose flutes’). Drums usually lack tuning devices. Open-ended, single-headed hourglass drums are common in New Guinea and Melanesia; the open end is often elaborately carved, in imitation of the mouth of a crocodile or bird. Cylindrical drums are more common in Polynesia. Slit-drums, found throughout the region, are not true membrane drums but hollowed-out tree trunks beaten with sticks. Some indigenous instruments are unique to the Pacific such as the friction blocks of New Ireland, three to four wooden plaques rubbed with the hands. String instruments include simple musical bows and bamboo tube zithers. The conch-shell trumpet is used in most areas for signalling. Instruments introduced from overseas include the Hawaiian ukulele, a native form of the Portuguese mandolin, brought to the islands c 1879.

For more information on Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, visit Britannica.com.

The Trust Territory of the Pacific was a United Nations Trust Territory administered by the United States from 1947 to 1996. It consisted of the Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands, Palau Islands, and the northern Marianas Islands—all of Micronesia except for Guam. Scattered across roughly three million square miles of the western Pacific, these island groups were geographically and culturally heterogeneous; their population included at least six distinct ethnic groups and nine mutually unintelligible languages.

All of Micronesia was claimed by Spain from the sixteenth century until 1898. However, after the Spanish-American War, Guam became a possession of the United States while the rest of Micronesia was purchased by Germany. The islands remained in German hands only until World War I, when they were captured by Japan. Until World War II they were League of Nations Class C mandates, effectively Japanese colonies. The region was the site of several major land and sea battles during the latter conflict, including those of Tarawa, Saipan, Peleliu, and the Philippine Sea.

After Japan's surrender, the islands were placed under the administration of the U.S. Navy, and then incorporated into a new trust territory. The Trust Territory of the Pacific was unique among all trust territories in that it was a "strategic" trust, one whose administrator answered to the UN Security Council, where the United States had a veto, rather than the UN General Assembly.

From 1948 until about 1996, the Trust Territory was administered as a de facto American colony. There was very little economic development on the islands; literacy levels were raised and basic health care was provided, but otherwise there were no major changes in the standard of living.

During this period, the islands were used for a variety of purposes by the U.S. military. Sixty-seven nuclear weapons tests were conducted in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, while Saipan was used as a training center for Nationalist Chinese forces. The islands were kept under military security: foreigners were excluded and travel by the islanders themselves was strictly regulated.

Beginning around 1962, however, the United States began to take a more liberal approach toward governing the Trust Territory. The Kennedy administration ended most travel restrictions, permitted limited foreign investment, and sharply increased the territory's budget. In 1965 the territory was granted limited self-government in the form of a bicameral Congress of Micronesia.

During this period a debate over the territory's future emerged and quickly became acute. Most islanders wanted independence, but a large minority wanted some form of association with the United States, while a local majority in the Northern Marianas Islands wanted to become an American commonwealth or territory. Furthermore, there was sharp disagreement over whether the territory should evolve into a single independent state or a group of smaller entities. This debate was resolved in 1975, when negotiators for the Northern Marianas and the United States agreed that the former should become an American commonwealth.

Over the next twenty years, four separate entities emerged from the Trust Territory. The Northern Marianas Islands broke away first, becoming an American commonwealth in 1978 with a status roughly equivalent to Puerto Rico. Then, in 1979, the Marshall Islands became an independent state, while Chuuk, Yap, Pohnpei, and Kosrae combined to form the Federated States of Micronesia. The last entity to emerge from the Trust Territory was the Republic of Palau. Its independence was delayed for nearly a decade by a protracted dispute over making Palau a nuclear-free zone. Full independence was finally granted on 1 October 1994 and the world's last trust territory came to an end.

The historical legacy of the Trust Territory is mixed. The Trust Territory government spread American concepts of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law across the Micronesian islands and the successor states are, by the standards of the region, stable and free. However, while the Northern Marianas have seen considerable economic development since the breakup of the Trust Territory, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia remain among the poorest states in the Pacific, and remain heavily dependent upon American aid.

The Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia are all internationally recognized sovereign states with seats in the United Nations. However, all three have signed treaties that bind them quite closely to the United States politically, diplomatically, and economically. Although the Trust Territory of the Pacific is no more, the United States remains the dominant military and diplomatic influence in Micronesia.

Bibliography

Kluge, P. F. The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993.

Willens, Howard, and Deanne Siemer. National Security and Self-Determination: United States Policy in Micronesia. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2000. There is no single-volume history of the Trust Territory of the Pacific, but Willens and Siemer provide a straight forward chronicle of the period from 1962 to 1975.

Consisting of the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands, and the Marianas Islands, covering a vast area of the Pacific Ocean, including more than two thousand islands and islets. Held by the United States under United Nations trusteeship.

Recipes

Geographic Setting and Environment

There are thousands of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Some island groups are independent nations, others are territories or dependencies of the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. The island groups are categorized as Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. Polynesia includes the U.S. state, Hawaii, along with New Zealand, Easter Island, Tonga, Tahiti, and other islands. Melanesia includes Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, and their surrounding islands. Micronesians inhabit about 2,500 islands that make up the countries Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. The islands of Fiji are volcanic, with rugged peaks. The environmental conditions on the islands of the Pacific Ocean support seafood and lush tropical vegetation.

History and Food

The first inhabitants on the islands of the Pacific came from Southeast Asia more than 20,000 years ago. They were hunters and gatherers who depended on the plentiful supply of seafood from the ocean that surrounded them. They became known for the great fishing skills they developed.

New islanders who arrived around 3000 B.C. are believed to have introduced agriculture to the Pacific region. Bringing with them seeds and livestock from the Asian mainland, they planted and harvested crops and bred animals. They introduced foods including bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes, yams, and breadfruit. The animals they brought with them included dogs, chickens, and pigs.

Explorers from Europe in the 1500s brought more new foods to the islands. These included carrots, potatoes, turnips, beef cattle, and sheep. It took a long time until the Western world showed serious interest in the Pacific Islands. By 1900, however, the United States, France, Germany, and Britain all claimed control of islands in the Pacific. Over time, they made a lasting impact on the food customs of the islands they controlled. Cooking styles on the island of Tahiti, for example, continue to reflect a strong French influence.

Foods of the Pacific Islanders

Seafood, particularly fish, has long been the primary dietary staple and source of protein for Pacific Islanders. Nearly 300 varieties of fish are found in the waters of Polynesia alone. Fish is typically eaten raw, poached, or grilled. Root vegetables and tubers, such as taro (also known as a cocoyam), sweet potatoes, and yams, are also central to the diet of the region. A wide variety of tropical fruits are also eaten in large quantities. These include bananas, plantains (similar bananas), mangoes, papayas, and pineapples.

One dish that is uniquely Hawaiian is poi, made from the taro root. Traditionally, the root was roasted in an underground pit filled with hot coals for several hours, and then pounded with a stone to make a sticky paste. By adding water, the pudding-like poi was created. Hawaiians ate poi by the bowlful, using only fingers to scoop it up.

The coconut, a common fruit grown in tropical regions, is a main dietary staple. Nearly all of the Pacific islanders use coconut milk as their main cooking ingredient. The starchy fruit of the breadfruit tree is another Pacific island staple. When it is cooked, it has a texture like bread (which is how the tree got its name). It can be peeled and eaten whole or mashed into a paste that is dipped into warm coconut milk. The most commonly used spice in the Pacific islands is soy sauce. Gallon containers of it can be found in many households.

Introduced by Westerners, corned beef and Spam (canned meat, usually of chopped pork) have become very popular throughout the region. Popular beverages include coconut milk and beer.

See Coconut Milk recipe.

See Fresh Grated Coconut recipe.

See Poisson Cru recipe.

Food for Religious and Holiday Celebrations

Pacific Islanders are known for their love of enormous feasts. They hold feasts to celebrate saints' days, births, marriages, and local events such as the crowning of a new chief. There are also funeral feasts. A typical feast might include cooked fish and shellfish and barbecued chicken or pork (or both). Also served are a wide variety of dishes made from taro (also known as cocoyam), sweet potatoes, yams, bananas, plantains, and coconuts.

Many Pacific Islanders are Christians and celebrate the major Christian holidays, including Christmas and Easter. Some Catholics fast (do not eat or drink) during the day or give up certain foods for Lent. Roast pig is a popular dish for Christmas dinner. Buddhism and Hinduism are also found in the region. Fiji, which has a large Indian population, observes Hindu festivals. Sweets are eaten on Diwali, the Hindu new year.

See Roast Pork recipe.

See Bananas and Sweet Potatoes recipe.

See Badam Pistaz Barfi (Fijian Hindu Nut Candy) recipe.

See Papaya Chicken and Coconut Milk recipe.

Mealtime Customs

Mealtime customs vary among the many different nationalities and ethnic groups of the Pacific Islands. For example, dinner is the main meal of the day for Tahitians of Chinese and Polynesian descent. However, those of European descent eat their most significant meal at lunchtime.

Pacific Island feasts are gala occasions that can be enjoyed by family, friends, or an entire village. Music is usually played while the food is eaten. Instead of a table, bowls and baskets of food may be laid out on mats or on a carpet of banana leaves.

Food for feasts is prepared in a special "underground oven" (called a himaa in Tahiti, a lovo in Fiji, and an imu or umu on other islands). It consists of a large pit dug in the ground and filled with stones heated over a fire made from dried branches and twigs. The food is wrapped in banana leaves and placed on top of the heated stones. Then it is covered with more layers of banana leaves and other materials to keep the heat in while it cooks. Once the food has finished cooking, it is taken out of the pit and removed from its wrapping of leaves. Pacific Islanders typically eat with their fingers. Sunday dinners and meals for other special occasions are often cooked in these underground ovens.

See Tropical Fruit Dessert recipe.

See Tropical Fruit Shake recipe.

See Firifiri (Tahitian Sugared Doughnuts) recipe.

See Baked Papaya Dessert recipe.

Politics, Economics, and Nutrition

The islands of the Pacific Ocean enjoy beautiful scenery and tropical climates. However, the people living in these island nations are vulnerable to catastrophic weather, such as intense cyclones, droughts, and even more serious, global warming. While there is still much debate about global warming among scientists, serious consequences could result. The islands' economies are adversely affected when shoreline and coastal buildings are damaged or destroyed by cyclones. Crops fail and fishing catches decline during periods of drought. Cyclones and droughts also contribute to the deterioration of coral reefs and to the spread of diseases like malaria and dengue fever.

Further Study

Books

Cook, Deanna F. The Kids' Multicultural Cookbook: Food and Fun Around the World. Charlotte, VT: Williamson Publishing, 1995.

Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Goodwin, Bill. Frommer's South Pacific. New York: IDG Books, 2000.

NgCheong-Lum, Roseline. Tahiti: Cultures of the World. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1997.

Webb, Lois Sinaiko. Holidays of the World Cookbook for Students. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1995.

Web Sites

InternetFiji.com. [Online] Available http://www.internetfiji.com (accessed April 15, 2001).

Samoa Chat Kitchen. [Online] Available http://www.samoa.as/recipe.htm (accessed April 15, 2001

SimplySeafood.com. [Online] Available http://www.simplyseafood.com (accessed April 15, 2001).

TravelCafe. [Online] Available http://www.travelcafe.tv/rec_home.html (accessed April 15, 2001).

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Trust Territory  of the United States ← 1947 – 1994 →   →   →   → Flag Location of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in the Pacific Capital Saipan Language(s) English Political structure United Nations Trust Territory Chief of State  - 1993–1994 Bill Clinton1 (last) High Commissioner  - 1981–1987 Janet J. McCoy2 (last) Historical era Cold War  - Trusteeship July 18, 1947  - Free Association October 1, 1994 Area  km² ( sq mi) Population  -  est.        Density  /km²  ( /sq mi) Currency USD 1Clinton was President when Palau's Compact of Free Association took effect. Ronald Reagan was President when the RMI, FSM, and CNMI's final status took effect. 2McCoy retired as High Commissioner in 1987. As Palau was still a part of the TTPI, it was administered by officials in the Office of Territorial and International Affairs until 1994.

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia (western Pacific) administered by the United States from July 18, 1947, comprising the former South Pacific Mandate, a League of Nations Mandate administered by Japan and taken by the U.S. in 1944. On October 21, 1986, the U.S. ended its administration of the Marshall Islands district. The termination of U.S. administration of the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and the Mariana Islands districts of the TTPI soon followed on November 3, 1986. The UN only formally ended the trusteeship for the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands districts on December 22, 1990. On May 25, 1994 the UN ended the trusteeship for the Palau district, after which the U.S. and Palau agreed to establish the latter's independence on October 1.

This area is now divided into four territories:

• The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective October 21, 1986).
• The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective November 3, 1986).
• The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) was set up in 1978 as a commonwealth in political union with the U.S.
• The Republic of Palau was established in 1981 and concluded a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective October 1, 1994).

Arrival of UN Visiting Mission, Majuro, 1978. Sign reads "Please release us from the bondage of your trusteeship agreement."

Map of the TTPI from 1961

External links

Photos from the records of the Trust Territory Government

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