Posted
on July 7, 2016
I've
already talked about the Solomon Islands here and here—and
I've discussed such topics as their location, their importance in a
U.S. president's life and during World War II, and the unusual
blond-hair-dark-skin minority living on some of the islands.
Today
I'm going to focus on a few different topics:
- The tiny island of Anuta is just half a mile wide, but its 300-or-so people are crammed in as tightly as any population in the world. The island is so far from any other island, the Anutans have to be self-sufficient and have to act sustainably.
This sustainable way of life includes treasuring and upkeeping their canoes. Anutans
know that wood is scarce, so they have had their canoes in their
families for 150 years – or even more! – even though they use
them daily or almost-daily!
Anutans have what is
called a gift economy. They don't barter so much as give. But they
know that “what goes around comes around.” (Naturally, such an
economy is much easier to sustain in a tight-knit population of just
a few hundred people!)
 |
| Some of the "grass" or bamboo instruments are made to blow into, like a sort of pipe (above), and others are made to be hit, like a sort of drum (below). |
- Shell money is traditional currency – and although it is only used in a few ways, these days, it is worth quite a bit in modern money. Here is a short video about shell money.
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