ANZ presents
Countries and the Cultures, pt. 6
Rapa Nui
(18
delegates, 2 VIPs)
 Far
to the east at the edge of the Polynesian triangle is Rapa Nui
or Easter Island, a territory of Chile whose history and culture
is shrouded in mystery and controversy.
Although many
theories abound about the people's origin, most scholars consider
the island's culture Polynesian. However, local traditions say
the islands original culture consisted of two different races,
the Hanau eepe, or long-ears, the original settlers of the island
with red hair and fair skin, and the Hanau momoko, or short ears,
the Polynesian peoples generally associated with the Pacific.
Rapa Nui was
first visited by Europeans on Easter Sunday of 1722 who noted
at the time, the coexistence of two distinct races.
The inhabitants
have endured famines, epidemics, civil war, slave raids and colonialism,
and the crash of their ecosystem; their population has declined
alarmingly more than once, however they have left a cultural
legacy that has brought them fame out of all proportion to their
numbers.
It is famous
for its monumental statues, called moai - now part of a world
heritage site with much of the island protected within the Rapa
Nui National Park.
It is believed
the moai were carved during a relatively short and intense burst
of creative and productive activity. A total of 887 monolithic
stone statues have been inventoried on the island and in museum
collections.
Marshall
Islands (delegates,
VIPs unknown)
 The Republic of the Marshall
Islands is a chain of 29 atolls, each made up of many small islets,
and five single islands in the central Pacific, just north of
the equator.
Linguistic, cultural
and biological evidence links Marshallese with the Eastern Melanesia/Kiribati
interaction area.
During the 1500s
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.
A German trading
company settled on the islands in 1885, and they became part
of the protectorate of German New Guinea some years later. Japan
conquered the islands in World War I, and administered them as
a League of Nations mandate.
In World War
II, the United States occupied the islands, and they were added
to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Between 1946
and 1958 the United States tested 66 nuclear weapons in the Marshall
Islands, including the largest nuclear test the United States
ever conducted, Castle Bravo. Fall out from this test contaminated
Rongelap, part of the Marshalls group, and people were forced
to abandon the atoll, leaving all their belongings, three days
after the test.
Nuclear claims
between the United States and the Marshall Islands are ongoing,
and health effects still linger from these tests.
In 1979 the Government
of the Marshall Islands was officially established and the country
became self-governing. English is the official language.
The Marshallese
are noted for their able navigators, using the stars and shell
and stick charts constructed with thin strips of pandanus wood
and cowry shells to show ocean patterns and islands or atolls.
They are also experienced in canoe building and still hold annual
competitions involving the unique oceanic sailing canoe, the
proa.
Samoa (150 delegates, 10
VIPs)
 Samoa, officially the
Independent State of Samoa, is our neighbor to the west. We are
both part of the Samoan Islands archipelago in the South Pacific
Ocean.
It was admitted
to the United Nations on 15 December 1976 as Samoa. The entire
island group, including American Samoa, was known as Navigators
Islands before the 20th century because of our seafaring skills.
It is believed
Samoa was first settled some 3,000 years ago when people from
South East Asia began to migrate towards the Pacific islands.
Contact with
Europeans began in the early 18th century. The Dutch first in
1722, followed by the French in 1768. English missionaries and
traders began arriving in the early 1800s with mission work begun
in late 1830 by John Williams, of the London Missionary Society.
By the late 1800s
the Germans were present, the United States laid its own claim
and Britain also sent troops to express its interest. An eight-year
civil war followed, with the three powers supplying arms, training,
and in some cases combat troops, to the warring Samoan parties.
All three sent warships into Apia harbor, and a larger-scale
war seemed imminent, until a massive storm damaged or destroyed
the warships, ending the conflict.
At the turn of
the twentieth century, the Treaty of Berlin split the Samoan
Islands into two parts and it became known as German Samoa.
New Zealand troops
landed in Upolu on August 29, 1914 and seized control from the
German authorities. From the end of World War I until 1962, New
Zealand controlled Samoa. Approximately one fifth of the Samoan
population died in an Influenza epidemic of 1918-1919, partly
due to the failure of New Zealand authorities to enforce a quarantine.In
the early 1920s, a campaign known as the Mau, a non-violent popular
movement protested the mistreatment of the Samoan people by the
New Zealand administration.
High Chief Tupua
Tamasese Lealofi, led his fellow uniformed Mau in a peaceful
demonstration in downtown Apia on December 28, 1929. When the
New Zealand police attempted to arrest one of the leaders in
the demonstration, a struggle developed and officers began to
fire randomly into the crowd and a Lewis machine gun, mounted
in preparation for this demonstration, was used to disperse the
Mau.
Tamasese was
shot from behind and killed while trying to bring calm and order
to the Mau demonstrators, screaming "Peace, Samoa".
Ten others died that day and approximately 50 were injured by
gunshot wounds and police batons.
American Samoa
playwright, John Kneubuhl recalls the events of that Dec. 28,
1929 day most poignantly in his last play, "Think of a Garden."
Kneubuhl died in 1992, the day his play premiered in American
Samoa.
Western Samoa
finally re-gained independence in 1962 and signed a Friendship
Treaty with New Zealand. Western Samoa was the first Pacific
Island country to gain its independence.
[Compiled from Wikipedia and the websites for the corresponding
countries.]
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