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 a half mile--820 yards (750 m).

History

In December 2002, the island was impacted by Cyclone Zoe.

Society and culture

The island's population is about 300. There are two villages (noporanga, which means "dwelling place", with a traditional chief each): Mua ("Front", the eastern and main village), and Muri ("Back", western). In spite of the fact that Anuta islanders largely live off of fishing and agriculture, the island has one of the highest population densities in the world, equalling 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 gardening location. Like nearby Tikopia (83 miles southwest), and unlike the majority of the population of the Solomon Islands who are Melanesians, the islanders of Anuta are Polynesians, and their language, Anuta, is a member of the Samoic branch of the Polynesian languages. A 200-word word-list is available at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database. The islanders were joined by adventurer Bruce Parry in the TV series Tribe, who made a voyage from the UK over Singapore, Brisbane, Honiara, and Lata (Santa Cruz) after which he boarded a yacht to Anuta.

Relationship with environment

Anuta's high population density has endured without destruction to the island's ecosystem. An important concept in the Anutan society is "Aropa," an attitude of mutual giving and sharing, which translates most closely to "compassion." Aropa distributes the island's resources equally among its inhabitants. As a result, it has attracted interest from scientists interested in the human relationship with the environment. In his book Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond sets Anuta at one end of the environmental variable controlling cultural development, in this case, area. 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 wrought by the Easter Islanders.

Choral singing

As in most of Polynesian islands, Anuta also has traditions of choral polyphonic singing. Community participation in choral singing is so intense that, for example, when a member of society dies, the population divides itself into 'small’ choirs of about twenty members each and they all sing at the deceased’s house one after another”.

See also

• Pacific Islands
• Pacific Ocean
• Polynesian outlier

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. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7525252.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-08. 
• "Anuta". Tribe. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/tribes/anuta/index.shtml. 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.