Marquesan culture
Encyclopedia
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
were colonized by sea-faring
Polynesian navigation
Polynesian navigation is a system of navigation used by Polynesians to make long voyages across thousands of miles of open ocean. Navigators travel to small inhabited islands using only their own senses and knowledge passed by oral tradition from navigator to apprentice, often in the form of song...
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...
ns as early as 300 A.D., thought to originate from Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
. The dense population was concentrated in the narrow valleys, and consisted of warring tribes, who sometimes cannibalized
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
their enemies.
Much 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 the original settlers of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, Rapa Iti
Rapa Iti
Rapa or Rapa Iti as it is sometimes called in more recent years , is the largest and only inhabited island of the Bass Islands in French Polynesia. An older name for the island is Oparo Its area is 40 km2 with a population of almost 500 and a max elevation of 650 m...
and Easter Island, was settled by Marquesans, believed to have departed from the Marquesas as a result more frequently of overpopulation and drought-related food shortages, than because of the nearly constant warfare that eventually became a prominent feature of the islands' culture. Almost the entire remainder of Polynesia, with the exception of a few areas of western Polynesia as well as the majority of the Polynesian outlier
Polynesian outlier
Polynesian outliers are a number of culturally Polynesian islands which lie in geographic or political Melanesia and Micronesia. Based on archaeological and linguistic analysis, these islands are believed to have been colonized by seafaring Polynesians, mostly from the area of Tonga, Samoa and...
s, was colonized by Marquesan descendants centered in Tahiti.
1595-1945
Native Marquesan culture was devastated in the period following the arrival of EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an explorers. While the decline in Marquesan culture can in large part be attributed to the activities of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, the primary cause of its collapse can be directly linked to the catastrophic effects of alien disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
s, especially smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, which reduced the population by an estimated 98%.
Tatu
The Marquesas have a long history of complex geometric tattooingTattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
, covering the whole bodies of both men and women.
Sexual mores
The Marquesas Islands have been noted for the sexual attitudes and behaviors of their native culture that are different than those of most Western cultures. Due to contact with Western societies these customs have changed and have become primarily historical.Early European explorers to the islands reported that children slept in the same room as their parents and were able to witness their parents while they had sex. Intercourse simulation became real penetration in some cases when boys were physically able. Adults found simulation of sex by children to be funny. As children approached 11 attitudes shifted toward girls. Premarital sex was not encouraged but was allowed in general, but was forbidden for firstborn daughters of high-ranking lineages. Upon reaching puberty, both females and males underwent rites of passage
Rites of Passage
Rites of Passage is an African American History program sponsored by the Stamford, Connecticut US public schools. The program consists of an extra day of schooling on Saturday for 12 weeks, service projects, and a culminating educational trip to Gambia and Senegal. Gambia and Senegal are the...
, including tattooing and for males, genital surgery known as superincision.
However, the accuracy of such claims has also been questioned in modern times. 20th century anthropologist Willowdean C. Handy hypothesized that early explorers may have had ulterior motives for painting the Marquesas as "sexually liberated" due to their isolation from cultural mores of western society. She says of much of the debauchery reported, "They are white-man-made." In her examination of pre-white Marquesan culture, she adds "Never, in those days, did such [sexual] relationships occur before puberty, and they were regulated to after marriage."
Modern travel author Paul Theroux
Paul Theroux
Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar . He has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his...
made his own journey to the Marquesas and was quite blunt in his appraisal of such claims:
Contemporary period
Today, Marquesan culture is a mélange created by the layering of the ancient Marquesan culture, with strong influences from the important TahitiTahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
an culture and the politically important French culture.
In western culture
- Famous French painter Paul GauguinPaul GauguinEugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
and Belgian singer Jacques BrelJacques BrelJacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
spent the last years of their lives in the Marquesas, and are buried there. Brel composed a famous song, Les Marquises, about the Marquesas Islands, his last home. - The Marquesas provided inspiration to American novelist Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
, whose experiences in the Marquesas formed the basis for his novel TypeeTypeeTypee is American writer Herman Melville's first book, a classic in the literature of travel and adventure partly based on his actual experiences as a captive on the island Nuku Hiva in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands, in 1842...
. - Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
visited the Marquesas in 1888, and wrote about his experiences and impressions there in 1900, in a book called In the South Seas. - Thor HeyerdahlThor HeyerdahlThor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
wrote his book Fatu Hiva during a year-long stay on that island. - The island group is also mentioned in passing in the Crosby, Stills & Nash song, "Southern CrossSouthern Cross (Crosby, Stills and Nash song)"Southern Cross" is a song written by Stephen Stills and performed by the rock band Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was released in 1982 on the band's Daylight Again album. Stephen Stills sings lead vocals throughout, with Graham Nash joining the final verse....
". - The Marquesas Islands temporarily received an international spotlight in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
when the reality TV show Survivor: MarquesasSurvivor: MarquesasSurvivor: Marquesas is the fourth season of the United States reality show Survivor. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it aired from February 28 - May 19, 2002 on CBS. Thirteen episodes aired, plus a mid-season recap and live interview with Rosie O'Donnell...
was filmed there. It was the fourth installment of the TV series Survivor.