7.5 A Readiness to Seize Opportunities
129
colonies of Western Polynesia and Micronesia up to the time of European contact, a span of over 3,000 years, though climatic changes may have made such
contacts intermittent. Captain Cook, for example, noted design improvements in
Polynesian canoes between his first and second visits to Polynesia, improvements
due to Polynesian adoption of a recent Micronesian design advance [11].
7.5 A Readiness to Seize Opportunities
The Spice Islanders’ readiness to seize opportunities is suggested by possible rapid
colonization of lands unpeopled by the Mount Witori eruption, by their rapid movement after this into Remote Oceania and by their colonizations of Madagascar and
New Zealand. This readiness to seize opportunities is reflected in their descendants’
successful later colonization of the Pacific and underlies the cumulative cultural
experience, recorded in their oral traditions, of repeated successful expansions.
Their readiness to seize opportunities is reflected in diverse ways, in recognizing,
often two or three days in advance, the right weather patterns, the optimal combination of winds and current and swell for launching a migrating fleet; in recognizing
the potential of new technologies and food crops they encountered and adopting
them rapidly; in instantly exploiting a momentary advantage in battle. The readiness
to seize opportunities, characteristic of both the Lapita and Polynesian cultures, may
help to explain the success of the Spice Islanders and their Polynesian descendants
as explorers and colonists.
It is known that the Lapita people possessed a double genetic advantage in resisting malaria (in contrast with coastal New Guineans who carried only the alpha
Thalassemia gene). Perhaps their population growth rate was greater than that of
their Melanesian neighbours and the urge to establish colonies to relieve population pressures was therefore greater. Perhaps, added to this, as has often been
commented, their cultural system of primogenitural inheritance and their cultural
emphasis on founder status also drove migration, with younger sons eager to break
away from the tribe to acquire land and status for their descendants. But basic
to Spice Island and Polynesian explorations and colonizations of the Pacific, we
would argue, was the genetic and cultural evolution over thousands of years as
long-distance maritime traders and possibly also as post-flood colonizers in their
own region. The evolution of cold-resistant and famine-resistant genes was crucial.
Almost as important must have been their millennia of horticultural and maritime
experience, their mastery of ocean currents and their awareness of the predictable
patterns of these currents, their knowledge of astronomy and of the star paths needed
also to guide them in a trackless ocean, their capacity to translocate and adapt
plants and animals to new environments. They possessed an intensely practical culture, organized to ensure that skills and knowledge were carefully transmitted from
generation to generation. But, as their traditions show, it was a culture that also
appreciated individuality, fostered courage and daring, encouraged individuals and
tribes to turn their backs on disasters and to seize new opportunities as they arose.
129
colonies of Western Polynesia and Micronesia up to the time of European contact, a span of over 3,000 years, though climatic changes may have made such
contacts intermittent. Captain Cook, for example, noted design improvements in
Polynesian canoes between his first and second visits to Polynesia, improvements
due to Polynesian adoption of a recent Micronesian design advance [11].
7.5 A Readiness to Seize Opportunities
The Spice Islanders’ readiness to seize opportunities is suggested by possible rapid
colonization of lands unpeopled by the Mount Witori eruption, by their rapid movement after this into Remote Oceania and by their colonizations of Madagascar and
New Zealand. This readiness to seize opportunities is reflected in their descendants’
successful later colonization of the Pacific and underlies the cumulative cultural
experience, recorded in their oral traditions, of repeated successful expansions.
Their readiness to seize opportunities is reflected in diverse ways, in recognizing,
often two or three days in advance, the right weather patterns, the optimal combination of winds and current and swell for launching a migrating fleet; in recognizing
the potential of new technologies and food crops they encountered and adopting
them rapidly; in instantly exploiting a momentary advantage in battle. The readiness
to seize opportunities, characteristic of both the Lapita and Polynesian cultures, may
help to explain the success of the Spice Islanders and their Polynesian descendants
as explorers and colonists.
It is known that the Lapita people possessed a double genetic advantage in resisting malaria (in contrast with coastal New Guineans who carried only the alpha
Thalassemia gene). Perhaps their population growth rate was greater than that of
their Melanesian neighbours and the urge to establish colonies to relieve population pressures was therefore greater. Perhaps, added to this, as has often been
commented, their cultural system of primogenitural inheritance and their cultural
emphasis on founder status also drove migration, with younger sons eager to break
away from the tribe to acquire land and status for their descendants. But basic
to Spice Island and Polynesian explorations and colonizations of the Pacific, we
would argue, was the genetic and cultural evolution over thousands of years as
long-distance maritime traders and possibly also as post-flood colonizers in their
own region. The evolution of cold-resistant and famine-resistant genes was crucial.
Almost as important must have been their millennia of horticultural and maritime
experience, their mastery of ocean currents and their awareness of the predictable
patterns of these currents, their knowledge of astronomy and of the star paths needed
also to guide them in a trackless ocean, their capacity to translocate and adapt
plants and animals to new environments. They possessed an intensely practical culture, organized to ensure that skills and knowledge were carefully transmitted from
generation to generation. But, as their traditions show, it was a culture that also
appreciated individuality, fostered courage and daring, encouraged individuals and
tribes to turn their backs on disasters and to seize new opportunities as they arose.