To see the big picture, small is necessary

Most people know who the Maori is, a major native tribe located in the Polynesian island chain (mainly New Zealand) known for their ferocious face paintings. But does anybody know the Moriori people from the Chatham Islands? Probably not, because as Jared Diamond states, "history constitutes a brief, small-scale natural experiment that tests how environments affect human societies". Even though both tribes were from the same ancestry, it was the differing environments that molded the Moriori and Maori. Located close to the South, the Chathams' cold climate could not support any crops for development and the Moriori became hunter-gatherers. Thus, this made them unable to store foods or "feed non-hunting craft specialist, armies, bureaucrats and chiefs" Their technologies were limited and they only captured animals that were easy prey. Furthermore, the small size of the Chathams island chain could only support a total population of 2000. Polynesian Islands Map.
All these factors constituted to a "small, unwarlike popluation with simple and crude technology without strong leadership or organization" that saw its downfall to their dominant neighbors of the Maoris in 1835.

As one can witness in the map, the island of New Zealand is much larger and northern that the Chathams, which meant that agriculture and crops were abundant in this area. The Maori grew to almost 100,000 and the crop surpluses helped them grow and produce varied tools for growing their crops, fighting and making arts. In addition, Diamond goes on by comparing the both islands by examining six major factors: island climate, geological type, marine resources, area, terrain fragmentation and isolation. Reading through his explanations until the end of the chapter, isolation and climate affected me the most because areas with beneficial weather overall and the ability to connect with the outside world that is constantly changing would be extremely beneficial to the growth of a civilization. I remember that the Moriori had at best, crude weapons made of wood, but the Maori had guns, axes and swords that came from interactions with foreigners because of the availability of New Zealand when the explorer Cook first discovered it.

Furthermore, climate affects the whole hierarchy of a islands' government as well because with a surplus of food, the density of people grows which can be used to feed non-farmers, such as warriors, labor forces and the upper class. This social complexity would allow the culture to spread out and do many jobs at once, instead of utilizing the whole population to only farm or hunt.

Polynesia only gives us a slice of what the world is like, but as Diamond says "it should not surprise us". Why you ask? Well, this inspection of the growth of Polynesian civilizations due to many external factors can infer that it can also happen in a larger scale of continents. Watch out, here comes the bigger picture.

*Side note:
Jared Diamond talks about Easter Island and its mysterious set of large 30-ton stone statues that he says have been "created by no other source than their muscles". I liked how he compared it to the Egyptian pyramids who are well known for the immense labor force associated with it. But the Easter island statues? Well, its a mystery no one has been able to solve yet. The size of Easter Island can only fit at most 5000 people, just like the island of Chatham, which to me is extremely perplexing. The geographical features also belie the ability of the natives to erect such statues. Extremely confusing indeed.
The Mystery of Easter Island

Word Count: 591