The small, volcanic island of Tikopia is located in the Santa Cruz Islands group in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is approximately six square miles in size and it used to be a densely wooded island, with tropical vegetation covering the rugged landforms. The island was cultivated by plantations and inhabited by about 2000 people. On 29 December 2002, the island was devastated by Cyclone Zoe, which destroyed all buildings and most vegetation. The island is an ancient volcano of which on of the sides had broken into the sea. The interior of the crater was a lake that provided the island's inhabitants with fresh water. When Cyclone Zoe hit the island, the lake was filled with debris and salt water. Tikopia Island rises to about 397 meters. The island was inhabited when the Spanish explorers Quirós and Torres discovered it in 1606. Both stayed on the island for several weeks.
Tikopia's climate is hot and humid, with daily temperatures registering around 26.7°C to 29.4°C. Prevailing wind patterns divide the year into two seasons. From April to September the trade winds bring frequent cloud cover, rain, and cool temperatures. The monsoon season, from October to March, displays variable weather with hot days and periods of calm that are broken by torrential downpours and high winds.
Tikopia is part of the Solomon Island's Temotu Province, which includes about 10 islands that are inhabited by about 2500 or 3000 permanent inhabitants. The group is located close north and northeast of Vanatu, which has claimed some of the islands since the 1980's. In former times the islands were part of the British Solomon Islands, which became independent in the 1960's.
Politically, the island is part of the Solomon Islands, which lies within the Melanesian culture area, but culturally and linguistically, Tikopia is actually a Polynesian outlier and should be classified with Western Polynesia. The Tikopian language, Tikopia-Anuta, is part of the Austronesian language family.
The Tikopian population had grown from 1,278 people in 1929 to 1,735 in 1953. Before Cyclone Zoe hit, the population was estimated at around 2000. They have traditionally subsisted by fishing, collecting and horticulture. Because of the lack of animals on the island, hunting is not practiced. Marine fauna are the major source of protein in the Tikopia diet and are taken by line or net fishing, frequently from sea-going canoes, or by collecting with nets along the reefs. The bulk of the diet, however, comes from fruits, vegetables and root crops, both wild and cultivated. Fields are opened by slash-and-burn techniques and cultivation is done with digging sticks. Major crops include taro, breadfruit, yams, manioc, sago, pulaka, coconuts, bananas and tobacco. In general, men fish, do woodworking, make nets and clear the fields, while women do most of the collecting and tending of the crops. They also make mats and bark cloth. Both sexes engage in planting and food preparation. With increasing population pressure on the island resources and greater articulation with the outside world, migratory wage work on the Solomon and New Hebrides islands has become an important economic activity, especially for males.
The Tikopians are distributed into 21 villages located along the island's coastline. No particular settlement pattern characterizes these villages, nor are there any village headmen. Village households are most frequently composed of a single nuclear family, but households comprising extended families or nuclear families plus other kin are also common. The village is an important unit in cooperative economic activities. The 21 villages are divided into two major social-geographical districts, named Ravenga and Faea. Relations between villages of the same district are characterized by mutual interest and cooperation for the most part. In contrast, relations between villages of different districts are marked by rivalry and hostility.
Village and district distinctions are cross-cut by a system of four principal kin groups, which are known as 'patrilineal clans'. The 'clans' are further segmented into patrilineages. 'Clans' are not localized and each one has members in both districts and in many, or most of the villages. But nearly every village has a preponderance of households of one 'clan', which is the politically and ritually dominant group in that village.
Integrated with this system of kin and local groups is a strongly developed status system, which, when expressed in a political form, constitutes a rank structure with chiefs at its apex. Patrilineages are headed by chiefs (maru), who are usually the most senior men in the direct lines of descent from the lineage ancestors. Lineage heads have important political, ritual, and economic functions, but more important are the 'clan' chiefs (ariki). Succession to these offices is determined by primogeniture and direct descent from the common 'clan' ancestor.
Clan chiefs are the traditional political and ritual leaders of the 'clan'. They theoretically own all the land, are key figures in production and distribution, and major agents of social control. Each chief has two sets of advisors, one for each ritual and secular affairs. As a result of missionary activities, the Tikopians have become Christianized and ritual advisors are no longer important. Although the 'clans' are hierarchically ranked, the chief of the highest ranked 'clan' should be considered as 'first among equals', rather than as a true paramount chief.
Tikopian marriages are prohibited among relatives of the first degree of relationship according to their classificatory kin reckoning. Neither lineages nor 'clans' function as exogamous units. People are divided into two classes, the chiefly class and the commoner class, according to lines of descent. Until recently, there was a preference for intra-class marriages, although this was not rigorously enforced. Polygamy is practiced, but monogamy is the prevalent form of marriage. Despite occasional separations of married couples, the Tikopians have no formal mechanisms for divorce. Delayed age of marriage for males, infanticide and abortion are among the Tikopian practices that have traditionally functioned to control their population.
The aboriginal Tikopian religious system was oriented around rituals for various ancestors and gods with the aim of obtaining such ends as favorable weather, crop productivity, success in fishing and the curing of illness. The most important mediators between the Tikopians and the supernaturals were the 'clan' chiefs, or ariki. An ariki was thought to derive his religious powers (manu) from the gods, and he served as a priest in important rituals involving joint participation of the Tikopian 'clans' as well as the ritual for his own 'clan'. In addition, each lineage in a 'clan' had a ritual elder (matapure or pure matua), appointed by the ariki, who dealt with lineage ritual.
Because of its remote and isolated location, Tikopia had few contacts with outside groups until well into the twentieth century. Tikopians occasionally visited other islands, but these trips were limited by the large distances and great hazards involved in canoe ocean voyages. Contacts by Westerners began sporadically around the beginning of the 19th century, but in 1927, when Firth did his initial fieldwork in Tikopia, the indigenous culture was largely intact. The major contact agents were, first, missionaries and later, labor recruiters. By the 1950's, all the Tikopians had become Christianized, and most of the native ritual practices had ceased. Much of the Tikopian life style has remained intact, but the forces of Westernization have been making inroads throughout the twentieth century.
Raymond First is the major authority on Tikopian ethnography, having spent 12 months in 1928-29 and about 5 months in 1952, as well as a short time in 1966 on the island. The only study of Tikopia previous to Firth's was made in 1910 by the Reverend W. J. Durrad, based on a stay of two months.
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