Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Indigenous Peoples of the Marshall Islands
Originally Published on March 21, 2002 - Since originally writing this I learned a lot more about the Marshallese people. Not everything I wrote was accurate so what’s new? I would invite my Marshallese readers to correct errors I have made. I would like to restate once again my love and respect for the Marshallese people who treated me so well. I think I increased my understanding of the people the most by spending a week on Airok. One thing that impressed me was that this is principally a pre-agrarian culture that has leaped into the 21st Century. That is to say, that until recently and on the outer islands this is still true, they were basically a hunter and gatherer economy. The men would fish and the women would gather vegetables and fruit. Since the arrival of Asian and European travelers they have made a significant leap in economic evolution yet still retain many of the traits that have helped them to survive hundreds of years. Their ability to adapt to the new culture is a credit to their intelligence and determination.
At long last I have completed my next installment of
my life on Roi-Namur. A lot of expert research went
into this highly informative and interesting article.
Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Indigenous Peoples of the
Marshall Islands
Somewhere between 2000 and 500 BC the first Micronesian navigators are believed to have arrived on the Marshall Islands. They might have followed the route shown in Figure 1 below. They lived here for many years in peace, occasionally committing acts of cannibalism etc. Micronesia was ceded to Spain in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The first Europeans to site the Marshalls were the Spanish in 1529 who were seeking a western route to the Spice Islands….
In 1788 the islands were visited by the British Naval Capt. William Marshall who gave them their name. Capt. Marshall is probably more famous for inventing the Marshall Guitar Amplifier. Capt. Marshall could have take the route shown in Figure 2 below. In the mid 19th century missionaries from New England arrived and converted most of the people to Protestant Christianity.Germany annexed the islands with the help of Pope Leo Sayer the VIII in 1885. Japan captured the islands from Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Germans in 1914 and was later granted a mandate to administer the islands by the league of nations. The US liberated the islands from Japan in a decisive battle in February of 1944. Here on Roi-Namur, the Japanese had about 3,500 fatal casualties compared to about 50 US Marines who made the ultimate sacrifice. After we kicked German, Japanese and Italian butt in WWII the islands came under US control. In 1986 the Republic of the Marshall Islands gained sovereignty of the islands in free association with the US.
That pretty much covers how we got to where we are today. In this article I can only share my first impressions of these wonderful people. There is always a danger in generalizing when discussing an ethnic group and the reader should bear in mind that there are as in any group individual variances. But this should give you a vague idea of the people I live, work and play with. First of all, as far as appearance, the people have a dark complexion. Their skin color is a dark brown my favorite color). Their hair is thick, black and sometimes kinky. Sort of a combination of African and Asian which also could describe their general appearance. But the presence of Europeans in these islands for years have left a mark and you can see some European features as well an occasional child with hair that is almost blond. The most notable characteristic of the Marshallese is their large broad smiles. Their children are the most beautiful I have ever seen with the notable exception of my own Nicci and Joel. I often see the children playing down by the Marina. They are allowed to come as far as the marina but there is a gate barring them from the rest of the island. The boys are usually fishing and the girls might be helping their mothers do the laundry. On Third Island there is not any running water or electricity except for the few generators that are there so we have set up some washing machines for the people to wash their clothes. There is an LCM(converted landing craft) that runs between the two islands to bring the workers here. Something happens to the girls when they reach their late teens or early twenties and they really plump up. They have a few golden years where they are beautiful women then all to soon they are beautiful but in a very large way. I suppose it might be the many children they produce or maybe they do not exercise enough. But it seems to happen to the American women who come here as well so maybe it is something in the water or air. There are a few exceptions of course. One of my favorite ladies here meets all the stereotypes I have just described and may even be said to excel in them but she has a very sweet personality and has one of the most beautiful singing voices I have ever heard. I have heard her singing Amazing grace in Marshallese while she works and it was quite beautiful. She remembered my name from the first time we met and is always quick to greet me with a big smile and to help me pronounce Marshallese words.
One thing the Marshallese women lack in a big way is western fashion sense. Usually they wear flowered mumus that do not really flatter them. I have been told they wear them out of modesty as they do not believe it is right to show any cleavage or legs. In Majuro, the capitol, they are slightly more liberated but most wear long flowered dresses with maybe a t-shirt over top. Some of the younger women will wear western clothes and they look extremely good in them. But then, I’ve been on a remote island for a while.
The men appeared sullen at first but it was a mis-impression. They are not particularly outgoing as far as initiating a friendship but are quite friendly once you make the first move. Tommy who was in my boating class is probably the man I have got to know the best so far. It is kind of funny that Tommy has to take a boating class because like most Marshallese men he has probably been driving a boat since he was breached. I have seen them handling boats and they seem quite skilled and natural on them. Since they depend a lot on fish for food they are excellent fishermen. I was introduced to one man named Bernard who was introduced as the World’s best fisherman. I told him it was good we met because I am the world’s worse fishermen so we complement each other in a sort of yin-yang sort of way. I have been told that they can spot fish underwater that Americans cannot see (because we haven’t been trained from youth on how to do it). There were some Marshallese watching as I practiced docking for my motor boating test (the Army says I have to have a motor boat license before I can get my sailboat icense). I could tell by their broad smiles that they, being skilled mariners, appreciated my skill. They were probably poking each other in the ribs and saying to each other, “that haole sure can handle a boat. We would have thought a haole could not exhibit such skill.”
Their traditional boat is an outrigger style canoe with a lattern sail. They have a form of map that looks like a bunch of popsicle sticks glued together. I suppose a popsicle would have melted quickly and have been of little use to them so they took to making maps out of the sticks. Back in the day they would use this map to navigate between islands. There would be one man in the boat who would lay at the bottom of the boat with his ear against a timber so he could hear the sounds of the ocean (I’m not making that up). By listening to the way the ocean sounded and comparing it to the info on his “map” he would direct the others on the boat on how to steer. I found this incredulous but I have asked some other Marshallese and they confirmed it. The Army has an island orientation class which you shold attend in your first month here. Part of it is a cultural awareness class. They taught us that sometimes a Marshallese will say they are going to do something with you but will not show up. The reason is that they generally want to please us and do not want to tell us something we do not want to hear so they will say yes but just not show up if they had something else planned all along. I noticed that general trait of not wanting to disagree. A guy I know and I were talking about the Super Bowl. He asked me who I thought would win and I confidently proclaimed the Rams as sure to win. I asked him who he thought and I could see the puzzlement cross his face. I am not sure if he was afraid to disagree with me and say the Patriots would win or if he just didn’t know the names of the teams but finally he said “the same as you.” Another trait of theirs that gets them into trouble is they are very generous. It is considered a great honor to share your resources with other people so any relative can show up at anytime and want something of yours and you would gladly give it to them if you were Marshallese. Matter of fact you would feel very honored that you were rich enough to give away what you worked hard to earn to some relative who did not work for it. So some guys work hard to earn money but see it disappear to their relatives. They seem to have a lot of relatives to boot. The sad part is it doesn’t seem to bother them. I think they really take to heart the verses in the bible that say you should share with others and that it is better to give than to receive. I have never known anyone to take it as seriously as they do. They are quite dedicated Christians and I have been told they have magnificent choir concerts on holidays. I have been invited by one of the cleaning ladies to visit their church next weekend. I am looking forward to it. They said they have 200 people show up on a Sunday morning which has to be a significant portion of their population.
There is a legendary island here called Arno. At one time there was a special school on Arno where the women were taught the art of pleasing a man during the act of physical union (I have heard rumors that the school still exists). I guess young women could be sent there and taught by an older more experienced woman. I have tried to find out how to volunteer to be a tutor but have not met with success(I’m only kidding). I am just trying to give back a little of myself to this wonderful culture.
Traditionally, the land is controlled by the women. In a Marshallese family, the mother would pass the land down to her daughter. In America land changes hands in a different way. A man works hard to earn the money to buy a house and then passes it to his ex-wife during the divorce. Something that I think is really cool about the Marshall islands is that fathers are not considered responsible for their children’s financial upkeep. That would be in the hands of the mother’s brothers. For my brother and I that would work out great. We each have two children that at one time or another we probably had to pay child support for but if we were in the Marshall’s we would only be paying support for my niece. We could split the difference too. But I only have one sister and if I had a bunch of them pushing out babies I could go broke here. I guess there was a head woman here at one time and the real power was in her hands even though there was also a king. She would be consulted in important matters and pretty much had the final say.
The life expectancy here is about 66 years. This is somewhat skewed by a high infant mortality rate. I guess it is improving. They seemed quite surprised when I told them my mother was 98 and my step-father was a hundred and twenty-one. They hold a big celebration when the child turns one and I think I heard that is when they name the child. Before that it is too likely the child will die so they don’t make a fuss about it until the first birthday. Their names are unusual by American standards. Sometimes a child will be just given a number for a name which reflects their birth order. Other times it could be after some famous person. For instance, there is a dude here with the first name of Nixon. Or the name could be the month they were born in. Another guy here has the first name of April. I heard people talking about April once and assumed they were talking about a woman since the only April I ever knew was April Nagasaki a girl I had a crush on back in elementary school, junior high, and high school. But I had a crush on a lot of girls back then. I hadn’t settled down to being the one woman only sort of guy I am today.
I am trying to learn to speak Marshallese. After only two months I can say hello, how are you, thank-you and you’re welcome. I know a few other words too. Here is a sample of their language:
Yokwe - Hello - this is analogous to Aloha
Yokwe Yok - I love you
Kommol tata - Thank-you
Kwen juedge - you’re welcome (I’m pretty sure I am spelling this wrong)
Emon mo - How are you?
Emon - fine
Iar (pronounced yar) - beautiful
Bektaan - one who relieves himself anywhere
Lakatsu - a handsome man
Likatasu - a handsome woman
Kora - woman
When you here them speak it kind of sounds like the goons in the Popeye cartoons. To my untrained ear it sounds like MMMMMMMMMM. You are probably asking yourself why I am bothering to learn a language that only 50,000 people on the face of this earth speak as their native language. It is a philosophical necessity. For years now I’ve complained about people coming to America and living there for many years without learning to speak English. So I have to learn in order to avoid being a hypocrite. Back at the time of the American Revolution (English Butt kicking Part I) we had a large portion of our population that spoke German. After breaking the yoke of British tyranny there was a debate in our nation whether our language should be English or German. Quite fortunately we chose English instead of German. But I cannot help but wonder how the world would have changed had we chosen German instead. For instance, during the Great War (World War I - German Butt kicking Part I) there was some debate in our nation on which side we should come in on. Since only one of my readers was alive at that time and he was probably more interested in sticking Suzie’s pigtails in the ink well, most of you may not have known this valuable bit of trivia. But if we were a German speaking nation we probably would have had stronger ties with Germany and the Kaiser. By the way, did you know the word Kaiser comes from the same word we pronounce Caesar and was one of the last remnants of the Holy Roman Empire? It is probably closer in pronunciation as there is not a soft C in Latin. But what if we had taken the Kaiser’s side? Then Germany might have won. If Germany had won in the Great War then maybe the roots of fascism would never have been sowed and Hitler would never have come about. Maybe Art Modell would never come about either. And maybe the Marshall’s would still be in German hands and I would not be here today. This is kind of like the butterfly fluttering its wings in Brazil and causing a rain storm in New York type of deal. Regardless, to steal a line from Dave Barry, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Indigenous People of the Marshall Islands would make a great name for a rock band. Auf Wiedersehen
Figure 2 Route that Early European Explorers did not take to the Marshall Islands
Technorati Tags: Marshall Islands, Marshallese, Micronesia, Micronesian, Kaiser Wilhelm, Pope Leo, Indigenous, Treaty of Tordesillas, Roi-namur
One Response to “Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Indigenous Peoples of the Marshall Islands”
 Comment by Daniel August 23rd, 2007 at 4:28 pm |
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Indigenous Peoples of the Marshall Islands, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting. |