Notes

TEACHER: Hi. My name is Kirsten and I'll be your instructor today. Well chances are, if you live in a cold environment or not, you've worn something made of wool before. Maybe it's a comfy sweater or a beanie hat or even a scarf. Did you know that most of the wool in the world comes from Australia and New Zealand? They are two of the world's biggest producers.
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In fact, there are so many sheep in New Zealand, they outnumber people seven to one. But of course, wool and sheep isn't the only thing these areas have to offer. Let's take a look at the Cultural Geography of Oceania. Our objectives, to examine important aspects of the cultures, governments and economies of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, to explore aspects of
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Aboriginal culture and examine the relationship between Aborigines and Australia's majority groups, to identify the challenges New Zealand has faced in integrating Maori and European cultures, and to examine the effects of culture and resource distribution on trade in the Pacific Island region. In this section, we'll be looking at our first two objectives.
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Now as we go along, some of our words and terms will be highlighted in purple. Pay close attention, because these are part of your vocabulary for this lesson. So first, let's take a look at the brief history of Australia. And you probably know that Australia was settled by people that we call Aboriginal Australians.
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And sometimes you might hear the term Aborigines used. Most historians and experts believe that these people came from Southeast Asia on boats across the water about 40,000 years ago. And they then settled and spread throughout the continent. So let's take a look first at early Aboriginal culture. Now the Aboriginal people of Australia lived in groups or
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tribes, and they called these small groups clans. And each of the clans had different language systems and different belief systems. They lived as nomadic hunter gatherers, which means they followed the food from place to place, and they hunted using spears, nets and boomerangs. Now they also did a little bit of cultivation. They used controlled burns to help cultivate food, to help
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plants grow more quickly and more productively. So this is a form of shifting cultivation, which means we set something on fire and we let it revive, and then we move on. And then we come back a few years later and find it to be a much stronger farming area. The Aboriginal Australians actually called this fire stick farming.
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It was really good for increasing production. Because remember, Australia is very, very dry. The early Aborigines also practiced a religion called Animism. And in Animism, people believe that everything has spirits. People, animals, even rocks and trees and other items in nature have spirits. They also worship their ancestors and believe their
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ancestors could influence their daily life. The Aboriginal Australians also have a creation story. They believe the Earth was created during a process known as the Dreaming. Next, let's take a brief look at colonial history. The first European settlers arrive in the early 1700's. But large numbers don't come until 1788. That's when the British decide to establish a
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penal colony in Australia. And a penal colony is a place that you would send convicts. The convicts would work for a few years. And once their sentence was over, they might be allowed to live as settlers in the continent of Australia. In 1788, 160,000 people arrived. And not all of them were convicts, but a great majority of them were.
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Now gold is discovered in 1851. And whenever gold or any other kind of precious metal is discovered, we tend to see a population boom. This occurs in Australia as well. Between 1860 and 1890, we see a large period of strong population growth, because of immigration. Australians call this the Long Boom. In 1901, the Commonwealth of Australia is established.
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Australia has an independent, autonomous government, although those ties to Great Britain do remain. So let's take a look at the demographics of Australia. You can see, the vast majority of people, 92%, are of European origin. However, there is a significant portion of the population that have Asian roots. And we see Aboriginals make up just 1% of the population.
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So let's take a look at the culture of Australia. It's heavily influenced by Europe. Here is a game called rugby, which you may be familiar with. So European culture dominates this country. The official language is English. The most dominant religion is Christianity, although there are large numbers of people who practice both Islam and
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Buddhism, especially those people from Asia. In addition, the Aboriginal people still practice traditional ancestor worship. Now Aboriginal Australians make up a very small portion of the population. And the reason is, number one, the land was taken by settlers and that really forced the Aboriginal onto very marginal land and they could no longer survive.
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Also, many people died because of disease and violence. And today, there are only 50,000 pure-blooded Aboriginal Australians left in Australia. In fact, the Aboriginal people of Australia were not even granted citizenship of Australia until 1967. Next, let's take a look at the government of Australia. The official name is Commonwealth of Australia. Whenever you see the term commonwealth, that usually
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means that a country has ties to another country. And in this case, Australia still has ties to Great Britain. They have a federal parliamentary democracy. And by parliamentary democracy, we know that number one, it's a democracy. So people vote for representatives. But because it's a parliamentary system, that
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means they have a Prime Minister, who typically is the executive of the country. Australia is a federation, just like the United States is. And it's a federation of six states and two territories. Whenever you have a federation, that means that some of the power is held by the national government and other powers are held by the state governments.
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There are three branches of government, an executive, legislative and judicial branch. In addition, Australia is still a constitutional monarchy. The monarch of Great Britain still serves as the head of state, but this is really a ceremonial position. There's no real political power given to that monarch. Next, let's take a look at settlement patterns.
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There are over 21 million people in Australia, and 80% live in the southeast region of the continent. Typically, people live in coastal cities, about 89%. And remember, the geography of Australia in the interior is very, very dry and arid. The most important and largest cities include Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. There's only one city that is not on the coast. That's the
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capital, Canberra. It's in the interior, but not very far into the interior. It's only about 100 miles away from the ocean. Now some people do live in the rural areas of Australia, about one in ten people do. And they call this area the bush. You may have heard the term Outback used before, as well. And typically, people live on sheep and cattle stations and
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mining towns. So let's take a look at the economy of Australia. Agriculture is very important. Again, we've been talking about the importance of wool to the Australian economy. And you can see some sheep here with a sheep dog. In order to cultivate wool as well as cattle, the Australians have established large ranches and farms, and
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they call them stations. And they are huge, up to 12,000 square miles. And so it's very difficult to get around. So they use motorbikes and helicopters, instead of horses the way they did a hundred years ago. Now wool is, again, a very important aspect of the Australian economy. They are the world's largest producer.
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So let's take a look at the other common economic activities that we find in Australia. The first is tourism. Nature, of course, is very important. Many people visit the Outback or the Great Barrier Reef. Beaches are very, very popular. The physical features. Australia is known again for the Outback and some of those
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amazing rock formations. A lot of people come to Australia specifically to take tours of Outback, and cities and landmarks. Sydney is pictured here. This is the Sydney Opera House, a very famous landmark. Next, farming and fishing. Of course, we've already talked about the importance of the wool on the economy.
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Meat, cattle especially, as well as fish, are also important. Also, wheat, bananas, pineapples and sugar cane. Finally, manufacturing and mining. They are the world's leading producer of bauxite, which is used to make aluminum products, opals and lead. In addition, mining coal, copper, iron ore and silver. So in review, we talked about the cultural
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influences in Australia. The Aboriginal Australians arrived from Southeast Asia over 40,000 years ago, and then the British arrived in the 1700's. They established a colony. And again, that European culture dominates Australia today. The type of government is a constitutional monarchy.
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And again, the monarch of Great Britain is the head of state. They do have three branches of government, an executive, a legislative, and a judicial branch. The main economic sectors. Tourism is very important. And of course, also wool, as well as farming and mining. So hang on.
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I'll see you after the break, and we'll learn all about New Zealand.
Section 2
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TEACHER: Hi, welcome back. This lesson is Cultural Geography of Oceania. Our objectives for this lessen are listed here, and in this section, we're looking at our first and third objectives to examine important aspects of the cultures, governments and economies of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, and to identify the challenges New Zealand has
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faced in integrating Maori and European cultures. In this section, we're going to be focusing on the country of New Zealand, and in its early history, it was settled by the Maori people. They were the first native inhabitants who settled on the island, about 1200. These people came from other Pacific Islands, and they lived primarily through fishing, farming, and hunting.
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Now the first Europeans would not arrive until 1642. The first European explorer to arrive was a Dutchman named Abel Tasman. He was sent by the Dutch East India Company to explore the region, and he believed the native people to be very, very violent, and so he tried to warn others from settling there. The next European to arrive was the famed British explorer
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James Cook, who lands on the North Island on 1769, and he has a very similar story. Some of his sailors got into violent confrontations with the Maori people, so he, too, warned others to stay away. So a wide-spread European settlement did not come to the island until the 1800s, and the settlers were primarily Australians--well,
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British subjects from Australia-- just across the water. Now in 1840, a treaty was signed between the British government and the New Zealand people called the Treaty of Waitangi, and this is going to start the first cooperation between the British and the Maori as far as the government of New Zealand is concerned. Conflicts over that treaty lead to the New Zealand wars
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between 1860 and 1872 where the Maori people were defeated by the British government. In 1907, New Zealand was an independent dominion of Great Britain. And then Maori finally becomes a second official language in the country in 1987. So let's take a closer look at that colonial history. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840,
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and in the treaty signed by about 500 Maori chiefs, they agreed to give up control of lands and in exchange were granted certain rights, including property ownership and rights as British subjects as well as protection from the British. But, however, there were two versions of the treaty, the English version and the Maori version, and the translation between the two languages
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left some problems. The Maori's understanding of the treaty was quite different than the British, especially over the idea of sovereignty. Those differences led the Maori to believe that they were not getting the rights that they had been promised, and so we see some conflict erupt after that treaty beginning in 1860.
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Primarily, it was over land. The European population of New Zealand was growing, the colonists needed more land, and this is eventually going to cause tensions and eventually fighting between the British and the Maori people. Rebel Maori lands were seized by the government and distributed to Europeans. Those who remained loyal to the British, the pro-British Maori,
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were rewarded, and four seats were created to represent Maori interests in the House of Representatives. So since that time, our relations between the white Europeans and the Maori have been strained. The term that the Maori use is Pakeha. That means the European, white European in the Maori language. And again, they have been strained since that treaty,
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and eventually in 1975, the Maori people marched to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, to demand rights and investigations that the British had failed to live up to their side of the treaty. So the government of New Zealand created a tribunal, a government agency to investigate these claims. Half the members were white British European descent,
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and then half were of Maori descent. And the government began to negotiate settlements with the different Maori tribes, starting in 1995, including the return of Maori lands, payments, as well as a formal apology from the British government for historical injustices including the seizure of Maori lands. So let's take a look at Maori culture.
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This is a Maori meeting house, and you can see the wonderful carving inside. Another important Maori cultural element is the Haka. It's a pre-battle dance, and you can see members of the New Zealand rugby team dancing that dance before a rugby match. Art is also important, including the house, the meeting house that you see here, as well as
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canoes and Ta Moko, which is permanent body and face marking-- the tattoos you see on the face of this Maori citizen here. This is a rite of passage that Maori men undertake as they move from boyhood to manhood. Next, let's take a look at the Maori today. They make up about 15% of the population of New Zealand, and they have their own political party
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called Mana Motuhake which means self-determination. But many Maori have assimilated into Western society. They go to school. They get college educations. They become doctors and lawyers and other members of society. So let's take a look at the demographics of New Zealand. So now we're going to shift to New Zealand today. The population of New Zealand is 3.8 million people,
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and 75% live on the North Island. 80% live in cities, and 70% are of European descent. Again, the Maori make up about 15% of the population, and Asian and Pacific Islanders make up the majority of the rest. English is the official language, but Maori was added as a second official language in 1987. Now the government of New Zealand
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is a constitutional monarchy. The monarch of the United Kingdom is the head of state, and the monarch is represented by a Governor General who doesn't have any true legislative power but does ensure the formation of a government. Now the government of New Zealand is a parliamentary system with a legislative, judicial, and executive branch, and the prime minister
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serves as the executive of the New Zealand government. There is no formal written constitution of New Zealand, so that makes it a bit different than other countries that we may have studied with democratic governments. Instead, they use a collection of written laws and statutes. Next, let's take a look at the economic activities of New Zealand. Well, primarily tourism and service industries
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are the most important industries. Tourism, of course-- there's beautiful nature. Many films have been shot in New Zealand in the past couple of decades. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, for example. Outdoor activities and adventure and sports are also important things that people like to do. Farming and fishing are also important to the economy.
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Kiwi fruit, for example, is native to New Zealand, wool from sheep, as well as meat, fish, and dairy. Mining and manufacturing is a much smaller industry in New Zealand, however, gold, limestone, and clay is exported from New Zealand, as well as coal and natural gas also are mined. So in review, we talked about the cultural influences. The Maori arrived from the Pacific Islands about 1200.
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The British arrived in the 1800's and established a colony. New Zealand has a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the monarch of the United Kingdom or Great Britain. There are three branches of government and no written constitution. And again, the prime minister is the executive of the government
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of New Zealand. And finally, the economy-- the main economic sectors, including farming, manufacturing, and tourism, as well as service industries. So we're going to take a little break, and when we get back, we're going to look at the cultural characteristics of the Pacific Islands. So see you in just a second.
Section 3
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TEACHER: Hi. Welcome back. This lesson is Cultural Geography of Oceania. Our objectives for this lesson are listed here. In this section we'll be looking at our first and fourth objectives, to examine important aspects of the cultures, governments, and economies of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, and to examine the
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effects of culture and resource distribution on trade in the Pacific Island region. Well in this section we're going to take a look at the Pacific Islands. We're going to look at their history, as well as the cultures that have developed in this region. What's interesting is that we have such a wide variety of vast cultures in this area.
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Now migrations here began from Southeast Asia more than 33,000 years ago. I'd like to think about the types of boats they were using. They were using canoes maybe with small sails and paddles. Nothing compared to the types of ships we see in the age of exploration. These people migrated all across the Pacific thousands
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and thousands of miles away on these very, very tiny boats. Now, when we take a look at the different areas throughout the Pacific, we notice a couple things. People from Micronesia and Polynesia are similar to each other genetically. So we think, experts believe, that these people probably migrated from the same original area, while Melanesians are more genetically linked to
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Australian Aborigines. As these people spread throughout the Pacific, the mixing and movement have created very distinct cultures. So as we visit island to island, we do see a wide variety of beliefs, ceremonies, dress, foods, everything that you can think of. Well, the first European to arrive was Ferdinand Magellan.
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This is the man who circumnavigated the globe, or at least his expedition did. He himself didn't make it all the way through. But between 1520 and 1521, Ferdinand Magellan sailed across the Pacific. So he's the first explorer to have contact with the Pacific peoples. Between the 1500s and 1800s, others followed, including
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Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and France in the early years. And then later in the 1800s, Germany, Japan, and the United States. By the end of the 1800s, foreign powers had control of almost the entire region. And pictured here we have the Governor of Fiji in 1910. His name is Francis Henry May.
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So when colonization occurs, and when European contact happens, this brings about a great deal of change, especially to the culture of this region. The Polynesian peoples, as well as the peoples throughout the Pacific, saw some economic and political gains, especially by the building of military bases. The United States, for example, builds military bases throughout the region because of the strategic significance.
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So this allowed a great deal more money to influence these economies. This is still true today. For example, Guam is heavily dependent upon the big, big United States Navy base located there. In addition, whaling was introduced, and plantation agriculture as well. Now, this brings about vast cultural changes.
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One area we can really see this is through diet. Now, the traditional diet throughout the Pacific Islands were typically roots, things like Taro or various forms of sweet potato, tropical fruits, and very little meat. Meat, typically, was only eaten for special occasions, ceremonial occasions, and the variety of meat was very limited. Chickens and pigs tended to be the only kinds of
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domesticated animals. After colonization, however, the diet's going to change dramatically. We have the introduction of new domesticated animals, like sheep and cattle, canned goods are introduced, soda is introduced. And so the diet in the post-colonial era is very, very different from the diet prior to
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the arrival of Europeans. Another important change that's going to bring about is the use of the islands for nuclear testing. Nuclear testing began in the World War II era between the 1940s and 1960s, and two island chains that were heavily affected where the Bikini Atoll and the Rongelap Atoll. People there suffered very serious long-term
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consequences, including genetic diseases, cancers, illnesses, and also the loss of homeland, because their islands became uninhabitable. Now, after colonization the islands created new governments, and they created a wide variety of governments. Some of them democracies, some of them not, and some of their democracies were very successful, and again, some of them not so much.
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These independent states include Tonga, which created a monarchy. Samoa, which created a parliamentary democracy. And Fiji, Fiji's trying to have a democracy, but their elections have been hampered by recent military coups. So next let's take a look at ties to foreign powers. Many of the islands gain their independence, but instead of
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becoming completely independent, chose to keep ties with various foreign powers. For example, the United States still has territories in the region, including Guam, Wake Island, and American Samoa. They have a commonwealth in the Northern Mariana Islands. In the commonwealth relationship, they are independent, they do govern themselves, but they do have a non-voting representative in the House of Representatives.
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They also still use the US dollar. And then also a free association. The Federated States of Micronesia. They are completely independent politically, but they still depend upon the United States for defense, and they also use the US dollar. Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom also have territories in the region.
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So let's take a look at the culture of the Pacific Islands. Again remember, the culture's going to be very, very widely varied because these cultures developed independently of each other, but we do see some trends. First these ethnic groups are separated by geography. As a result we have several hundred languages that are spoken.
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In Papua New Guinea alone, over 800 languages and dialects are spoken on this island. It also includes pidgin languages, and pidgin languages are languages that people use to communicate together for trade. So if I speak English and you speak Spanish, over time we might develop a pidgin language where we can still communicate with each other in order to get
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our business done. Religion. Traditional religions dominate the area. In these traditional religions, typically there are some sort of ancestor worship or honoring of the ancestors. Many of the traditional religions include rituals, a dance, carved masks, and carved statues as a part of those ceremonies.
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We also see some other world religions in this area, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. These religions are also commonly found in the islands. Traditional societies also have developed and remained, despite the colonial presence. Chiefs hold power and distribute land and organize labor. What's interesting is that both men and
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women can become chiefs. In addition, other important people of the tribe are called Big Men, and they are speakers for the tribe and they often are advisors to the chiefs. Family is very important throughout the Pacific Islands with regard to culture. So let's take a look next at various aspects of Pacific Island culture.
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We're going to start with art. It's often related to religion, and carvings are commonly found. Also work in feathers, especially long-feathered capes, for example. Shell work is also very important, both in jewelry and in headdresses. Clothing, you can see some traditional Pacific Island
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clothing here. This traditional clothing can be made of whatever materials are commonly found on that island. That's what's interesting is as we go from island to island, the geography changes. So the plants that are available or the shells that are available in one island aren't necessarily available on the next island, so they will
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substitute something else. So often, cloth, bark, or coconut fiber is used to create these traditional costumes. Colorful cotton shirts or blouses are also sometimes worn. Today, these types of clothing are reserved strictly for special occasions. The clothing they wear today probably bears a lot more
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resemblance to what you wear on a daily basis. So next let's take a look at the economic activities of the Pacific Islands. Of course, tourism is extremely important. People travel to these islands to visit beaches or go scuba diving. Also, a stop-over. Traveling across the Pacific it takes a
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very, very long time. One time in my life I travelled from the United States to Singapore and it took me 24 hours to get there. So often, people stop on various islands for a few days to kind of rejuvenate themselves. Fishing and farming are also very important, especially tuna and skipjack, and tropical fruits, coffee, vanilla, cocoa beans, sugar cane, and rubber.
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Farming is done on both levels, both at the subsistence level and commercial. Mining and manufacturing are also important, especially textile manufacturing, and you can see a wide variety of island boutiques that might be available. Textiles and clothing are manufactured on the islands, as well as mining industries such as phosphate and metal. So next let's take a look at trade and the economy.
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Trade is very important to the culture and to the economies of the Pacific Islands. If you think about it it makes a lot of sense. The resources that are available are very limited. So inter-island trade is very important because chances are you don't have everything that you need on your island, so you might have to trade with another island to get something, while you might have something that they need.
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So goods are traded, are heavily dependent upon geography. This was essential for survival, especially before colonization. There's an unequal distribution of resources, an uneven distribution of the types of resources available. So the islands were very much dependent upon each other to get everything they needed to survive.
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Today, however, the islands are very important in the global trade and the global market. Export agricultural products, things like coconuts and tropical fruits, and they import meat and other needed goods. They import, also, large quantities of raw materials in order to export finished products. In addition, many of the islands receive financial
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assistance from wealthy nations, and they have also created exclusive economic zones. These are special areas where they give up part of their water, for example, for fishing in order to earn extra income. So in review we talked about the history of the Pacific Islands. They were inhabited about 33,000 years ago.
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The Europeans colonized the area in the 1800s, and independence brought big changes in the 1960s and 1970s. Now again, physical geography's very important. It influences diet, the economy, and the cultural geographic and environmental diversity found from island to island to island. The economy is very dependent upon tourism, fishing,
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tropical fruits, and other crops, but the uneven distribution of resources among the islands makes trade very, very important and vital to survival. Today islands have earned extra income by creating exclusive economic zones, so they charge fees for economic activities within that zone, such as fishing. So in this lesson we learned about really the vast variety of types of goods and services available
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in the Pacific Islands. We also learned about trade and how things from New Zealand, like kiwi fruit, and wool from Australia are important to us today. Chances are sometimes you go to the grocery store and you might buy produce from the Pacific Islands, everything from pineapple to coconut to papaya or mango. And the same is true for them.
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They are very dependent upon goods created here in the United States. Automobiles are manufactured, clothing, canned goods, especially, as well as meat. So it's very important to notice that even though we're really far away from each other, we still depend upon each other for trade and for our culture, as well as for our survival.
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So thank you very much and I'll see you next time. Bye.
Cultural Geography of Oceania and Antarctica
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