So basically it is an elective monarchy from the family line decided by the elders based on which member of the family is best suited to the role. Reminds me of the system Lithuania had when they were still pagan.
Yes, but with the quietly understood ability of non-family to claim power through guile and positive social standing rather than purely through violence or revolution.
This is really the way humans thrived and evolved, nations like America or Uber nations like the EU are simply too large for the human mind or evolution. If only we could go back to these systems without mass war and collapse. It's beautiful that at least one place has maintained paradise.
@@GhostofJamesMadison It works really well when you have an island with clearly demarcated borders. When your land doesn't provide and your neighbours does, it becomes much harder to let you and your people starve to death in the name of ideals. I can't help but feel your romanticism borders on total naïveté. It's very unlikely that Henry would ever have taken control of Pohnpei had he not had the advantage of Western education and resources. It's a story that could not have existed without contact with an imperial power. Did you even watch the same video?
@@StolidpigThey lost their system, because of contact with imperial power. The miracle is, that they got it back. Yes you are right, it can only work in a unique environment. The American native cultures were gradually developing technology. Always growing in numbers, and at war with each other. Not as romantic, we see them now.
Hey Andrew, great series you've been doing so far on Micronesia. If you are still in the region, you may want to consider checking out Guam. The island has the highest percentage of land afforded to military bases in the entire US.. maybe the world? Whole sections of the island are reserved for military purposes. It may be an interesting look at US influences in the Pacific, plus urban design (what urban design there can be on an island territory).
Thanks! I'm Evan, just fyi. I went to Guam on this trip and it didn't really draw my interest like I hoped it would, so I ended up not making any videos there. I do too much US stuff, honestly.
@@RareEarthSeries Totally understandable. I have had similar reactions in the past, I think something might be awesome to film but then nothing pulls me in. Your work inspires me to keep going, what you make is unique these days.
If there were any justice in the system that RU-vid operates this channel would sit at it's very zenith, excellent video and the work done here is always worthy of attention.
Greate Video. I'm from Pohnpei and yes Hery or Nahnpei as we usually call him is a well known and respected in our history. His descendants are one of the wealthiest Pohnpeians today. We have schools named after him and more. Today it is bit different where every pohnpeian family own their own land but we still preserve some old practices such as giving the king of our municipality the first harvest of the year (mainly breadfruits and fish). There are 5 municipalities so there are 5 kings at once for each). I like to point out that Henry was the only one in his family that ever recognized as the king of Kitti (one of the 5 municipalities) by the people of pohnpei. His descendant though they are important people of Kitti they are not the "royal family". The highest title for their family (Rosa) is very important and respected but the king of Kitti title is Soukisehleng.
You are my weekly bringer of knowledge and enlightenment. Keep doing what is needed, even if we are too few to sought after what is really important on this small planet.
This is exactly why I’ll be a lifelong subscriber to this channel. Dude always finds the best stories and like ol Rosco P Coaltrain investigates every angle to bring us the story
It is always fascinating to hear about the history of our islands. I come from two Samon lineages from my mom’s side (both her father and mother) and share High Chief ancestry with my father’s side of the family. Due to oral history, there’s not much to be learned when you’re away from your community so I’ve been gathering and soaking information whenever I could get it to learn more about who we are, our responsibilities and our history. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you for another great essay, it is incredible how much information you can pack in a single video. For me is always a great pleasure to see and listen to you.
Great seeing this documentary series in a place where is it hard to find any written or video documentary history, except and mostly, word of mouth. Haven't seen something this good since the ones done by Father Hezel and the Micronesian Seminar. Thanks!!!! Yes, this resort winning changed Josh's life for better in many ways. He iOS a very different human not days from when he first arrived on island. And Rohsa and family, great people!!!!
I've been loving this vicarious journey through Micronesia, it's so rare to see through a clear window at other parts of the world. The arrows pointing away from the objects and to the descriptions is going to bother me to no end. Thanks for doing this Evan.
Your narrative pace and cadence is just top knotch. Regardless of the story you're telling, you always manage to keep us completely hooked from start to finish 👏
When my dad was 50 he married a girl who was 18 and Palaun royalty, her grandmother was the Queen of Koror which was the capital of Palau. I was 9 at the time my father never told Mom. I went to go live with my Dad in 1969 because of my Mom’s ill health. Upon arriving in Palau I found out that I had a Palauan stepmother. This was not welcome news to her because she didn’t know that my Dad had a 9 year old son. Anyway fast forward in the future my stepmother’s oldest sister became Queen of Koror. Now my stepmother is my ex-stepmother divorced my Dad when he was in his 80s, I have a half brother and half sister in that blood and I could be technically eligible to be a chief should my stepmother ever become Queen of Koror.
There is no royalty in Palauan society. Micronesian cultures are not homogenous. Palauan and Pohnpeian traditions are quite different. Unlike a monarchy, traditional Palauan society is not ruled by a single person or family. It consists of a conglomeration of distinct clans and subgroups or lineages within these clans. While there is a somewhat of a hierarchy or "ranking" between clans, high clans do not rule over lower clans. The rankings between clans can really only be understood through very complicated historical contexts that may date back centuries. Chiefly titles are not inherited, but are appointed by the women elders within a clan. Moreover as we are a traditionally matrilineal society, one's strongest clan affiliation is typically with their mother's clan and land wealth is passed down through direct maternal lineage. Technically, any member of a clan is eligible to hold a chiefly title ("dui"). "Dui" is not a direct translation of the word "chief" because chiefly titles are unique to each clan. Every clan has a male high chief and have female equivalent. This "female chief" is not the male chief's spouse. Those who hold these titles are not rulers of their clan and their children are not awarded any special treatment or significance just because their parent holds the title of high chief. Aside from being representatives their clan, these titleholders are responsible for maintaining their clan's relevance and preserving their clan's customs and history.
Love your series of videos on Micronesia so far! Pohnpei looks like a quaint Filipino village from the all the snippets you have shown so far especially with all those stores similarly looking like the "sari-sari" convenience stores in the Philippines. Excited for the next upload. Cheers!
Wow! These videos about Micronesia should be seen by everyone. You open up the world in ways only you can. My son is the one who introduced me to your work back when he was like 13 or 14, one of the things reminding me that the future was going to be in good hands. Thank you and Team for bringing us these gems of beauty and wisdom. 💙🌏✌️😎🍀
Well you did have a defined territory (youtube comment), a government (you as the king), and are capable of interacting with other states (me). All you need to do now is searching for a permanent population.
This was great, y'all. Super interesting. Their systems reminds me of the traditional political structure of the Southeast "US" with one exception--our women owned all the 'real' property & no man ever had any true control over it, even politically. But ownership of land in our traditional understanding is so different from the understanding in the West it's hard to put into English. The Minko was chosen similar to how you describe in Pohnpei; our clan system was matrilineal so the next Minko was often a nephew or grandson of the previous BUT the most important consideration was "who is best fit to be Minko." The only reason they were usually related was that, since they'd have lived in the same household, they often understood the job. It was exceedingly rare for political authority to pass father to son (though it could happen) as it was understood that if that happened a few generations in a row, you'd eventually get a patriarchal kingship that inevitably ends up concentrating both wealth and coercive (military) force to dangerous effect.
That's fascinating history. I've always been interested in the traditions of the different tribes, though I confess, what I know and understand is a snowball compared to snowpack. I'm curious to know what tribe you're referencing, and if other tribes in the region used this system. Thank you for adding this information to the thread here.✌️😎🍀
Henry was not the first Rohsa. He was "Nanpei Kitti" adopting the title as his lastname. His Son, Oliver Nanpei, was the one who helped the Nahnmwarki during the war and received the title of Rohsa, which was the title of Nahnwarki of kitti during that time and has been pass down through the family where today Rohsa Willy is the current holder of that status and title.
Sometimes I watch ur videos and randomly remember your dad is Canadian space hero Chris Hadfield. Then I go watch that really cool cover of Space Oddity on the space station. Ur old man mastered videos in space and u mastered videos on earth ✌️
It's a translation because the feudalism is different, but the first Rohsa video explains it in detail - it isn't the king *of* Micronesia but one of many tribal rulers within Micronesia
I have a sugestion for subject that I think will be intreresting. There is a guy name Josef-Andreas Gebhardt born in 1884 in the west of the modern day Romania and he become king in Timor island. All the information I have found are in german and roumanian.
@@Sportfury4400 that's likely because she grew up with Japanese memories of how to say the island name, as they renamed it Ponape due to their language structure If wasn't originally Ponape, that's just a different colonial name - like calling Chuuk Truk
@@RareEarthSeries In your Irishman’s tattoo video in the beginning you pronounced Pohnpei as I remembered it. From searching I guess it is pronounced very similar to Pompeii and threw me off at first. Thank you for your response. These videos are great! Educational and entertaining. I sent them to my x wife and she really liked them too.
@@Sportfury4400 the name of the island is a combination of the words pohn (stone) and pei (altar), named after the origin story of the island's creation where sailors found a stone sticking up out of the ocean and built an altar on it.
@@RareEarthSeries I caught that part and it made sense to me why you pronounced it that way. I was on Kwajalein for a year in the 80’s and from her and others I just remember hearing it differently so that’s how I pronounced it. Ebeye wasn’t much to look at then. I had some Marshallese friends I worked with and have been there a few times. I was unaware of the king of Ebeye or a mansion but maybe that didn’t exist then. Very interesting!
He’s not a king, he’s the representative of the current generation under Henry Nahnpei. So every member of the family has their own right to live in these lands. It’s written in Henry’s will.
This is really interesting. I don't think you could ever achieve the "feast every few days" kind of prosperity in a democracy, regardless of the available resources? Our leaders are all incentivized to make sure the sun shines particularly brightly on only a portion of the population that they need to woo to retain or gain power.
@@eljanrimsa5843why not? If people are competing for a majority of voters, this will necessarily happen. It's baked into democracy's most basic principles.
@@eljanrimsa5843sure, we would like that to be the case but that’s not what democracy actually is. You would have to design a new system that would definitely not be democracy to achieve this. In ancient Athens they equated democracy with oligarchy, for this reason.
I think you're confusing democracy with capitalism. The first is for and by the people. The second is for and by those with capital. Sometimes those interest can align, but when capitalism is conflated with political freedom and rights, democracy and the people lose (Citizens United case in point).
A couple things. 1. YOU ARE CANADIAN? 2. You were here and probably spent time with my husband's uncle Patterson Shed and he didn't tell me and I am Canadian! 3. Your father is Chris Hadfield? One of the most entertaining men I've ever heard speak. COME BACK TO POHNPEI! We will have you over for sakau on the rock.
The fact that he is a "chosen monarch" makes it an interesting system. Better than the "appointed by God" kind of monarch who (after several generations of inbreeding) probably isn't capable of finding his ass with both hands and a GPS. Kind of like most first-world elected politicians, now that I come to think of it... My feeling is that this is a system that would only work with a small population. The fact that it does and the people are happy with the system is something special. Standing by for some rich and powerful country to screw things up-AGAIN!😟
I think I understand some of what the commenter meant.... However, I don't believe your observation is "ignorant" because based on the video the people do have a system that works well for them. The "arrogance" may reference your last part. However, I don't think it's hubris to understand that there are at least a couple of powerful countries that can be the equivalent of a bull in the china shop or a wrecking ball when it comes to vulnerable small nations. It's neither ignorant nor arrogant to worry that one of these out of our control powers could wreak devastation on this beautiful, remote nation.
It has often been said that the best form of governance is a benign dictator. This only works in very small communities where said dictator is a member and knows everyone..
White men brought ink and paper now they think it's legal.. the ponapean traddition, as you said it, all of Henry Nanpei land is not his land. It is untradditional for him to keep the land when he dont have the title. Henry should have give back the land for the next nahnken. Our traddition, custom and culture is our way of life.
I have been respecting Micronesian, Pohnpeian, Palauan, Philippino, Visayan, Tagalog, Hopi, Pascua Yaqui, Tohono O'odham, Piman, Puebloan, Chiricahuan, Apache, and Shoshoni Culture for 38 years - and I have neen protecting Micronesian, Pohnpeian, Palauan, Philippino, Visayan, Tagalog, Hopi, Pascua Yaqui, Tohono O'odham, Piman, Puebloan, Chiricahuan, Apache, and Shoshoni People for 38 years .. I will always protect the People of any Earth-Caring Island or Tribe against the Corrupt Power-Hungry Politicians , Mafias , Gangs & Criminals who want to Rape the People and destroy their land & culture .. ~ B ~ #GuardianOfMicronesia #GuardianOfChuuk #GuardianOfYap #GuardianOfPalau #GuardianOfTheVisayas #GuardianOfNauru #GuardianOfEniwetak #GuardianOfNewBritain #GuardianOfPohnpei
I can't believe fathers would take their young children to go sell them to Europeans as prostitutes... good god, no wonder the Europeans treated them so badly and looked down on them. I imagine from the point of European culture, anyone who would sell their own children into prostitution was nothing but contemptible. I find it very strange that these girls went on to get married afterwards... were their sexual morals very different or something? Was premarital sex not taboo for them, let alone something as degrading as prostitution? That is to say nothing about how disgusting these sailors were for sleeping with children...
If you have different sexual restrictions, the concept of sex becomes a very different thing. Generally speaking. The concept of "prostitute", as we consider it, wouldn't have even really existed.
That daughters or wives were regarded as property is really nothing unusual. It wasn't much different in Europe at the time. It's clear that it was an unbelievably horrible idea. However, I don't necessarily want to pass too much judgement on the horrific ideas of a culture that experienced the equivalent of an alien invasion, whereby my culture was the invaders.
