Anuta

Anuta

Location of Anuta in the Pacific Ocean

Anuta (Anuda)

Nickname: Cherry Island
NASA Satellite Image Geocover 2000
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	11°36′39″S 169°51′01″E
Archipelago	Solomon Islands
Area	0.37 km2 (0.143 sq mi)
Length	0.876 km (0.5443 mi)
Width	0.576 km (0.3579 mi)
Highest elevation	65 m (213 ft)
Highest point	unnamed
Country
Solomon Islands
Province	Temotu
Largest city	Mua village (pop. 200)
Demographics
Population	300
Density	811 /km2 (2,100 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	Polynesians

Anuta is a small high island in the southeastern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu, the smallest permanently inhabited isolated Polynesian island.

Description

The island lies about 311 miles (501 km) to the east-southeast of Nendö, at 11°36′39″S 169°51′1″E. It is a small volcanic island with a fringing coral reef. The highest point on the island is 213 feet (65 m) above sea level. The island has a diameter of only about 820 yards (750 m).

History

According to oral traditions, Anuta was settled by voyagers from Tonga and 'Uvea about fifteen generations ago. The current social structure was established around ten generations ago, when the chief, Tearakura, his two brothers, and one brother-in-law, slew the remainder of the island's male population. These men, along with Tearakura's two sisters, were founders of the island's four kainanga , large descent groups that are sometimes described in English as 'clans'. A mission was established by the Anglican church in 1916. Anthropologist Raymond Firth visited Anuta for a day in 1952. Ethnobotanist Douglas Yen, along with archaeologists Patrick Kirch and Paul Rosendahl, spent about two months there in 1971, and anthropologist Richard Feinberg lived on Anuta for almost a year in 1972-73. He has remained in communication with the Anutan community from that time onward and has made several additional visits. In 2006, Bruce Parry of the BBC visited for several weeks, during which he and his team filmed an episode of the TV show, "Tribe." In 2008, another flim team from the BBC made a brief visit, and in 2012 a team from the Seoul Broadcasting Service filmed a TV show there for a Korean audience. In December 2002, the island was impacted by Cyclone Zoe.

Society and culture

Anuta has a human population of about 300. The island has two noporanga, or "dwelling places", each with a traditional chief. Mua, meaning "front", is the eastern and main village, and Muri, meaning "back" is the western village. Due to its small land area, Anuta has one of the highest population densities in the world, equaling that of Bangladesh.

Historically, some of its inhabitants have used the small island of Fatutaka, about 37 miles (60 km) to the southeast, as a supplemental agricultural location. Unlike the majority of the population of the Solomon Islands who are Melanesian, the islanders of Anuta are Polynesian, and their language, also named Anuta, is a Samoic language branch of the Polynesian language. A 200-word word-list is available at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database.

Relationship with environment

An important value in Anutan society is aropa, which emphasizes collaboration, sharing and compassion for others. The practice of aropa ensures that the island's finite resources are divided equally among its inhabitants. Because Anuta's high population density has not had a negative impact on the island's ecosystem, Anuta has attracted interest from scientists interested in sustainability. The BBC documentary series South Pacific devotes part of an episode to the ability of Anutans to maintain their island's bounty, contrasting it with the environmental destruction found on Easter Island.

Choral singing

Like most of the other Polynesian islands, Anuta also has traditions of choral polyphonic singing.

See also

• Austronesian
• Pacific Islands
• Pacific Ocean
• Polynesia
• Polynesian outlier
• Solomon Islands

References

• Feinberg, Richard. 1977. The Anutan Language Reconsidered: Lexicon and Grammar of a Poly¬nesian Outlier. Two Volumes. HRAFlex Books. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press.
• Feinberg, Richard. 1988. Polynesian Seafaring and Navigation: Ocean Travel in Anutan Cul¬ture and Society. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press.
• Feinberg, Richard. 1986. "The 'Anuta Problem': Local Sovereignty and National Integration in the Solomon Islands." Man 21(3):438–452.
• Feinberg, Richard. 1998 Oral Traditions of Anuta: A Polynesian Outlier in the Solomon Islands. Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics, Volume 15. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Feinberg, Richard. 2004. Anuta: Polynesian Lifeways for the 21st Century. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
• "Harmony thrives in Pacific isolation". From Our Own Correspondent (BBC). 2008-07-26. Archived from the original on 28 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-08. 
• "Anuta". Tribe. BBC. Retrieved 2008-08-08. 
• Firth, Raymond. 1954. Anuta and Tikopia: symbiotic elements in social organization. Journal of Polynesian Society 63:87 131.
• Yen, D. E. and Janet Gordon, eds. 1973. Anuta: A Polynesian Outlier in the Solomon Islands. Pacific Anthropological Records, Number 21. Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum Press.