Mangarevan Expedition
Encyclopedia
The Mangarevan Expedition of 1934 was a scientific expedition to investigate the natural history
of the farthest southeastern islands of Polynesia
, including Mangareva
. It was a comprehensive natural history expedition of a kind more common during the previous century. Sponsored by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum of Honolulu, Hawaii
and led by the malacologist Charles Montague Cooke, Jr.
, its research team included the ethnologists Kenneth P. Emory
and Peter H. Buck, the botanists Harold St. John
and F. Raymond Fosberg, the malacologists Donald Anderson and Yoshio Kondo
, and the undergraduate entomologist E. C. Zimmerman
. After visiting 56 islands on a voyage of over 14,000 kilometers over a period of six months, they returned with an enormous quantity of data, including perhaps the richest collection ever made of plants in Polynesia.
The main party sailed aboard a converted Japanese fishing vessel
, the Myojin Maru renamed the Islander, while Emory led another team aboard the Tiare Tahiti to survey Mangareva and the Tuamotu Islands. During 14 weeks on relatively isolated Napuka Atoll in the Tuamotus, Emory's team collected 200 ethnographic artifacts
and recorded 90 songs and chants, along with genealogies and oral histories that remain among of "the most important sources of traditional eastern Polynesian temple ritual." Some of their more colorful adventures and hardships on the atoll are described in the book Road My Body Goes (1937) by the journalist Clifford Gessler, who almost died there from a poisonous coral cut.
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
of the farthest southeastern islands of Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
, including Mangareva
Mangareva
Mangareva is the central and most important island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north...
. It was a comprehensive natural history expedition of a kind more common during the previous century. Sponsored by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum of Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
and led by the malacologist Charles Montague Cooke, Jr.
Charles Montague Cooke Jr
Charles Montague Cooke, Jr. was an American malacologist who published under the name of C. Montague Cooke or C.M. Cooke.-Life:Charles Montague Cooke, Jr. was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 20, 1874....
, its research team included the ethnologists Kenneth P. Emory
Kenneth Emory
Kenneth Pike Emory was an American anthropologist who played a key role in shaping modern anthropology in Oceania. In the tradition of A. L...
and Peter H. Buck, the botanists Harold St. John
Harold St. John
Harold St. John was a professor of botany at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa from 1929 to 1958. A prolific specialist in field botany and systematics, he is credited with discovering about 500 new species of Pandanus, along with many other species, especially in the Pacific Islands.Born in...
and F. Raymond Fosberg, the malacologists Donald Anderson and Yoshio Kondo
Yoshio Kondo
Yoshio Kondo was a biologist and malacologist. He spent virtually his entire life in Hawaii, with the exception of a number of collecting expeditions, primarily to islands in the Pacific Ocean , and his time spent at Harvard University, where he received a Ph.D. under the direction of William J...
, and the undergraduate entomologist E. C. Zimmerman
Elwood Zimmerman
Elwood Curtin Zimmerman was an American entomologist best known for his two multivolume series: Insects of Hawaii published by the University of Hawaii Press and Australian Weevils published by Australia's CSIRO.-Biography:During his school years...
. After visiting 56 islands on a voyage of over 14,000 kilometers over a period of six months, they returned with an enormous quantity of data, including perhaps the richest collection ever made of plants in Polynesia.
The main party sailed aboard a converted Japanese fishing vessel
Fishing vessel
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing....
, the Myojin Maru renamed the Islander, while Emory led another team aboard the Tiare Tahiti to survey Mangareva and the Tuamotu Islands. During 14 weeks on relatively isolated Napuka Atoll in the Tuamotus, Emory's team collected 200 ethnographic artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
and recorded 90 songs and chants, along with genealogies and oral histories that remain among of "the most important sources of traditional eastern Polynesian temple ritual." Some of their more colorful adventures and hardships on the atoll are described in the book Road My Body Goes (1937) by the journalist Clifford Gessler, who almost died there from a poisonous coral cut.