Where are Trobriand Islands?
Papua New Guinea
Trobriand Islands, also called Kiriwina Islands, coral formations in the Solomon Sea of the southwestern Pacific, Papua New Guinea, 90 miles (145 km) north of the southeasternmost extension of the island of New Guinea.
What is the purpose of the Kula ring?
It provides internal status for men, and strengthens political stability among kula trading islands by reinforcing peace, since Trobrianders are highly reticent to attack islanders who are partners in kula.
Who colonized Trobriand Islands?
The first European visitor to the islands was the French ship Espérance in 1793. The ship’s navigator, Antoine Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, named them after his first lieutenant, Denis de Trobriand. Whaling ships called at the islands for food, water and wood in the 1850s and 1860s.
Are the Trobriand Islanders a tribe?
The Trobrianders are an indigenous tribe living on the Trobriand Islands archipelago of Papua New Guinea. These islands were first reached by the French in 1793 and are, in fact, named after the lieutenant of the ship. This first discovery did not result in colonization, however.
Are the Trobrianders patrilineal?
The people of the Trobriand Islands are mostly subsistence horticulturalists who live in traditional settlements. The social structure is based on matrilineal clans that control land and resources.
What items were used for Kula trade?
The Kula Circle has always been associated with making contact with far off neighbours. Traditionally two kinds of items were traded; arm bands carved from the toea shell know as Mwali and spondylus shell necklaces, Soulava. Each of these items were traded individually.
Why is the Kula ring important for the preservation of the island groups off the coast of Papua New Guinea?
the Kula Ring plays an important sociocultural role by creating and maintaining long-term social relationships and by fostering the traditional myths, folklore, and history associated with circulating shell bracelets and necklaces.
What is the Trobrianders descent system known as?
The Trobrianders are noted for their elaborate intertribal trading system, the kula (q.v.), which was described in the anthropological classic Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) by Bronisław Malinowski. …
What type of kinship system is practiced by the Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea?
The social structure is based on matrilineal clans that control land and resources. People participate in the regional circuit of exchange of shells called kula, sailing to visit trade partners on seagoing canoes.
Who are the Trobrianders?
The Trobrianders or the Trobes as they are known locally inherited their name from Denis de Trobriand, the first lieutenant on D’Entrecasteaux’s expedition, the first European visitors to the Islands in 1793. Often referred to as the ‘Islands of love’, the people with their distinct Polynesian appearance are, to put it simply, beautiful.
Who are the Trobriand Islands?
Here are some interesting snippets about the Trobriands from the eHRAF culture summary: The Trobriand Islands were named for Denis de Trobriand, the first lieutenant in one of D’Entrecaseaux’s frigates when this group of populated atolls and hundreds of islets was sighted in 1793.
What is it like to live in the Trobriands?
The Trobriands are one of the smaller groups, the largest of which is only 30 miles long by 10 miles wide. To the outsider they can appear at first sight to be idyllic settlements down by the sea shore.
What was the aim of the study of the Trobriands?
His stated aim was to understand the “imponderabilia of everyday life” in the tribe. The Trobriands are an archipelago of islands on the south-eastern side of Papua New Guinea.