The Regions: Micronesia

The following ojects originated in Micronesia:

The Islands of Micronesia occupy less than one quarter of one percent of the area of the Pacific Islands as a whole, with a population of 450,000. The first people moved into the western islands (the Mariana and Caroline Islands) from the Philippines about 3500 years ago. The island groups further east, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands were colonised from Western Micronesia as well as from western Polynesia and Vanuatu.

The majority of Micronesian islands are atolls (lagoons ringed by coral reef), with some high islands of volcanic origin. Only a narrow range of plant life can grow, and apart from the phosphates of Nauru there are no large-scale natural resources. The main foods are coconut, breadfruit, taro and yams, together with fish.

Men do the fishing and are associated with the sea, women take charge of the cultivation and most craftwork, as well as child care. Fishing and trade between far-flung islands was very important. As a result the Micronesian outrigger canoes were among the most efficient sea-going craft in existence until the present century.

The fishing and trading between islands was controlled by extended families, living in coastal villages. Centralised chiefship occurred on Pohnpei, the northern islands of Kiribati, and Belau in the Caroline Islands. Here, the traditional motifs on chiefly houses have been adapted for use on houses for the use of the whole community.

In the past, population densities were high, resulting in frequent battles over land rights. Southern Tarawa in Kiribati has one of the highest population densities in the world.

Traditional religious beliefs centred on spirits of dead relatives and of natural objects, contactable through specialists. Spirits were petitioned to act on behalf of the living.

Read more about Bond, Cook, Montague, Van Bussel and Veitch who collected these aretefacts