12. The Built Environment of Polynesian and Micronesian Stratified Societies in the Early Contact Period

Abstract

The islands of Polynesia, Micronesia, and eastern Melanesia are part of Oceania, located in the vast center of the Pacific Ocean. This chapter looks at the built landscape of three of the most stratified polities in Oceania in the late 1700s Tonga and the Hawaiian Islands in Polynesia and Kosrae in Micronesia. These were polities with two main classes (commoners and chiefs), three administrative levels of chiefs, and four social strata. Prior to contact, the most frequent investments in these kingdoms' built environments were maintenance of and alterations to existing structures. The built environment of the Oceanic highly stratified societies of Tonga, the Hawaiian Islands, and Kosrae involved all members of their societies. In the economic and political world of the late 1700s and early 1800s, clearly these societies were not the powerhouses. In their own Oceanic setting, however, they were. Keywords:Hawaiian Islands; Kosrae; Micronesia; Pacific Ocean; Polynesia; stratified polities; stratified societies; Tonga