There is no written record of early Cook Islands
history, but oral narratives in song and dance form passed from generation to generation include such names as TANGIIA and KARIKA, who arrived in the 13th Century and joined forces to conquer the earlier inhabitants of Rarotonga.

CLick here to find out the history of The Polynesian Settlement

Individuality is the hallmark of the culture of the Cook
Islands and reflects their varied sources of ancient
migration as well as the vast distances between 15 tiny
islands scattered over a section of the central South Pacific
Ocean as big as the Indian sub-continent.
However, there are some common threads. All the islands
employed a chiefly system based on traditional legends of
migration and settlement. These stories enshrined the power of
the chiefs as inheritors of what might be termed an "heroic"
culture. From time to time theories have been advanced that
Polynesian culture before European contact was similar to that
of the heroic period of Greece, that is, pre-dating Homer
around 1200 BC. Some of these parallels include the concept
of "mana", kinship, feasting and the giving of food, attitudes
towards women and the lack of individualism.
 

The Polynesian hero, or free man, acquired "mana", loosely
translated as "power" and "prestige" by the deeds he
accomplished. He was measured by his deeds achieved on a
purely personal basis. His main attachment was to his own kin
or clan. The obligations inside this framework far outweighed
any notion of social conscience or nationalism. This was a close
parallel to the archaic Greeks, termed by Homer "Achaians".
Neither the Achaian nor the archetypal Polynesian free man or
"hero" had a word describing his immediate nuclear family.
Also, neither had a word for "love" as modern western
civilization understands it. Food and the giving of it features strongly in both cultures. Western notions of the importance of the individual are
completely alien to Polynesians as indeed they would have
been to the Achaians. Polynesians see themselves as members
of a race, a people, a party or some other general group in
much the same way as many primitive societies do.
Allegiance to chiefs was a fundamental of Polynesian culture.
The chiefs' titles and other authoritative positions were passed
down primarily through the senior male line. However, land
rights were inherited via the mother's line. Chiefs were
responsible for war leadership, carrying out important
discussions with other groups or clans, land allocation, disputes
settlement and intercession with the gods.

One of the most significant functions of a chief was to
organise and pay for feasts. A chief, or indeed, any man, was
judged by his ability and willingness to bestow gifts and to
throw big parties. Much of the detail of these cultural structures
was lost when the missionaries began making inroads into the
native religion in 1823 and afterwards.

The main-Island, Rarotongo, is very small. You can drive around the Island in 30 minutes. The Island is beautifull and very peacefull. You can get a Cook Islands driver licence for 10 dollars after a driving test. The latter is hard to fail.

Go with your mouse over the next photo to see the sequence of my coconut experience

Climbing the coconut tree is a difficult task

.

 

Photo: Tangaroa Tutelary, God of the Sea

Airlines Schedules

Several parts of Text and photos by John Walters - www.ck  ( a real photographerm artist and web specialist)