Summary Of Anthropologist Ben Finney's The Other One-Third Of The Globe

In the article by Jared Diamond, many interesting theories are discussed about Easter Island’s history and decline. Diamond makes connections to the environmental challenges we face today and he compares the catastrophe of Easter Island to our current over consumption of natural resources. While this article makes for an interesting read, much of it is offered from a single perspective and little counter evidence is offered. The author writes in a way that could engage a non-academic audience who may not be interested in counter evidence, or proper referencing. The article lacks credibility due to its narrow scope and conversational diction. At the root of this discussion however, is the notion that the Rapa Nui people were

There have been many instances throughout history in which indigenous people have unwillingly suffered the consequences of foreigners’ interaction with their culture. In the case of the Huaorani two foreign groups, the oil companies and the missionaries, invaded their land and gravely affected the life they led in the Ecuadorian amazon. In the book Savages Joe Kane gives a firsthand account at how the Huaorani fight to preserve their land and traditional way of life.

The New World was surrounded in mystery. The hope of prosperity, a new start, or a chance to solidify a legacy drove thousands to shed the “Old World” they knew. This action of embarking beyond the familiar boundaries and happening upon a land untouched by the rest of the known word was pure chance. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of Guanahauni and the world would never be the same. The effects of the Columbian Exchange are still evident in today’s geographic landscape.

Previously, Columbus was the “person who found the Americas,” but that is historically incorrect. We celebrate Columbus day as if he was a hero who saved mankind but he did the exact opposite. Zinn explains how much the Native Americans suffered and their perspective during Columbus's “discovery” of the Bahamas. We learn that because of his discovery, everyone was able to benefit from it but we never learn specifically how his actions affected the Arawaks.

The Hawaiians were further depicted as "thieves" like the rest of the "people in Polynesia," and plagued with the barbaric accusation of committing infanticide. These so called "facts" were enough for the Euro-American forces to send out missionaries to regulate the Hawaiian people and take over their land and all their practices. (Stannard, 381- 417)

In the 1820’s Missionaries have been starting to visit Hawaii inspired by Henry Obookiah who the first Hawaiian Missionary. Henry Obookiah was a Hawaiian missionary that told the English about the Hawaiian religion and how it works, and it convinced the English to go and spread their religion. But not everything ended well according to the plan for the Hawaiians. People only notice the negative effects that the missionaries cause the Hawaiians to go through, but they miss the benefits that the missionaries gave the Hawaiians. Although the missionaries have brought negative effects to the Hawaiians, they also have given the Hawaiians some benefits with the new religion, new language, and new technology.

At this tense meeting with considerable distrust and suspicion evident in the faces, speeches and body language of the Samoan chiefs, the High Chief expressed considerable skepticism about American plans for the island, such as providing more education in English, teaching the young marketable skills, and developing the country. Being educated at the University of Hawaii, the High Chief would have had very good reason to be suspicious of the intentions of the United States, even when its representatives expressed their goodwill toward the Native peoples and desire to bring 'progress; and 'modernization. He would have learned about the wars against the Native Americans from the 17th to the 19th Centuries, for example, the annexation of Hawaii in 1898, and the Philippines War of 1899-1902, if indeed he had not known all about these before.

The “new world” that Columbus boasted of to the Spanish monarchs in 1500 was neither an expanse of empty space nor a replica of European culture, tools, textiles, and religion, but a combination of Native, European, and African people living in complex relation to one another. »full text

The world’s history had a turning point in the fifteenth century. The oceans were no longer an obstacle as previously seen to reach beyond. The Europeans felt inferior to the power and wealth of the Islamic world and saw the possibility to claim power and richness by conquering the oceans. During the 15th century and the 16th century Europeans established colonies in the Americas, the so called “New World”. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, most did not even consider that the peoples they encountered had cultural and religious traditions that were different from their own; most believed indigenous communities had no culture or religion at all.

Colonisation has impacted profoundly on indigenous communities worldwide and this essays examines and details some of those impacts.

Before the Spanish ship that changed it all, which arrived in the “New World” in 1492, there was a vast population of native people who had lived on this land for centuries prior. That ship, skippered by Christopher Columbus, raised arguably one of the most influential turning points in Native American and European history. It sparked the fire of cultural diffusion in the New World which profoundly impacted the Native American peoples and the European settlers.

In the wake of Europe’s Age of Exploration, explorers roamed different parts of the ocean in search of a faster water route to Asia. Along the way, Europeans explorers discovered a whole new continent, America. Thinking that he was in India, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor, called the indigenous Native Americans he met “Indians,” a misnomer that is still used frequently even up to this day. Europeans soon shifted their attention away from the water route to Asia but toward the colonization of the New World. With a desire to have a new life different from that of the Old World, many Europeans landed on the shores of the new continent and settled in communities. However, almost all kinds of European colonization faced this

The Taíno natives were able to fully utilize the island’s resources unlike the earlier inhabitants, “amerindians”, due to their modified cultivation processes, “cultivation was started by setting fire to the area of forest that was to be cleared. Then the soil was heaped into mounds on top of which stalks were planted” (Picó 13-14). This process allowed for a growth in population sizes where some settlements may have even reached near five-hundred people from what was once only about twenty-five people that could be fed daily through hunting, fishing and gathering fruits during the time before the Taíno phase (Picó 14).

In this chapter Jared Diamond describes how two societies the Maori and the Moriori were almost whipped out by the environment and in some cases each other. These two societies had some of the same ancestors but the Maori were way more developed than the Moriori. In the chapter Diamond explains how they were separated but developed in opposite directions. Diamond then goes on to explaining how the islands these societies lived on were different from each either. The next main point of this chapter was how population and politics were worked out on these islands. It is shown how many people lived on each island from populations as little as 5 people per square mile to 1,100 people per square mile. Diamonds last topic explains how both of these societies needed to advance their tools in order to survive the conditions they lived in.

Upon the European’s discovery and colonization of the Americas an irreversible transformation was triggered. The extreme differences in the cultures of the Europeans and Native Americans would prove to be fatal to the way of life that existed before European colonization.