Pre-Contact Pacific

Pre-Contact Pacific

7th Grade Social Studies

Pacific Island Studies

The people of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia have lived in the Pacific Islands between 3,300 and 1,700 years. The first settlers from Southeast Asia may have migrated to the Pacific Islands looking for more land or for more animals to eat. Some also believe that Southeast Asians were being pushed out of their homes by rival tribes.

Once people settled in the Pacific Islands, groups continued to move to new islands farther and farther east. Scientists and historians believe the continued migration of Pacific Islanders was caused by curiosity and some chiefs wanted new lands to control.

Open Ended

What are some reasons for Pacific Islanders migrating and exploring different parts of the Pacific?

When an island was settled, the people would use the resources (materials) of the island to survive. Pacific Islanders used to have a subsistence lifestyle. Subsistence means that you do everything for yourself. You catch, raise or grow your own food. You make your own tools, shelter and clothing from nature’s resources. The Pacific Islanders lived off the coconut, breadfruit, taro, pandanus and banana plants. They ate chicken, pigs, dogs, crabs and sea creatures. If they did not have enough foods or materials, they traded within their island, or they would sail to other islands to exchange goods.

Multiple Choice

Pacific Islanders had a _____________ lifestyle which means they...

• depended on resources from the outside world.

• could do everything for themselves to survive.

• produced more substances than they needed.

• subsided (lived) in once place.

Multiple Choice

Pacific Islanders...

• produce as much products as they could using the resources they had.

• used money to buy goods and products from each other.

• only use enough resources to survive and traded with each other for what they needed.

Most Pacific Islands had polytheistic religions, meaning the people believed in many god, spirits and ghosts. People worshipped their ancestors (dead family members) and parts of nature. Often magic was used to tell the future, cause illness or death. If people of two islands worshipped different gods and went to war against each other, the winning island was assumed to have the stronger god. Sometimes, the losing island would adopt and worship the winning god. Head hunting was practiced on some islands and human sacrifice, as a part of religion, was practiced on other islands.

Multiple Choice

Most Pacific Islanders were "polytheistic" which means...

• they believed in many gods.

• they believed in one god.

Open Ended

What would happen when a Pacific Islander group lost in a religious war with another group?

Social organization varied (was different) from island to island. Some had strict caste, or class systems. Some had royalty systems with kings and chiefs. Some islands even practiced slavery. No matter the social system, the extended family (children, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins) was the most important group to Pacific Islanders. The extended family shared both their resources and labor. They helped each other build houses, get food and watch the children. The extended family helped people survive as they lived off the land.

Open Ended

Why was the extended family important to Pacific societies?