Society-TRUK

The Truk atoll of the Central Caroline Islands in Micronesia is located
in the Pacific Ocean at lat. 7 degrees 25 minutes N. and long. 151
degrees 45 minutes E. The atoll, comprising a barrier reef, volcanic
and coral islands, and a lagoon, covers some 822 square miles, of
which only about 38 square miles is dry land area. The most important
of the constituent islands are Dublon, Eiol, Eot, Eten, Filo, Fanapenges,
Fefan, Moen, Param, Pata, Pis, Polle, Romonum, Sis, Tarik, Tol, Udot,
and Uman. In addition, the outlying Hall Islands and the atoll of
Nomonuito may be considered part of the Truk group.

Located within the tropical zone, Truk experiences little seasonal
variation in its climate. The mean annual temperature is 26.7 degrees
C., and the average humidity is 83 percent. The annual rainfall averages
from 305 to 356 cm., and occurs fairly regularly throughout the year.
Although rains are heaviest in June through August, there is no marked
wet or dry season.

While the exact origin of the Trukese and their linguistic affiliations
are still matters of debate, they are placed within the Austronesian
language family. Within that family, the Trukese language is a member
of the Carolinian subfamily of the nuclear Micronesian languages (Voegelin
and Voegelin 1964: 103).

Experts differ on the precontact population figures and, therefore,
on population trends. Hall and Pelzer (1946: 8-10) suggest a native
population of 35,000 in 1825, which had declined due to the introduction
of new diseases to 10,344 by 1935. Goodenough (1951: 25), on the other
hand, argued that the population statistics are unreliable and that
the population probably remained relatively stable over the first
100 years of contact. All authors agree that the events of World War
II reduced the native population to about 9,200 in 1946. Census figures
for 1968 place the total population at 26,368 (Henderson et al. 1971:
512), growth attributable to natural increase and immigration from
other areas, most notably from the United States.

Although discovered by Alonso de Arellano of Spain in 1565, Truk was
little contacted until the nineteenth century. Early contacts included
European traders, whalers, and missionaries. Direct cultural intervention
was limited until around the turn of the century when Germany annexed
the area and introduced changes, particularly in economic and political
relations. The Japanese controlled Truk from 1914 to 1945 and brought
further changes as they sought to develop the area for export production
for Japan. Truk was both a military base and a battleground during
World War II. Following the war, Truk became part of the Truk District
of the United Nation's Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the
administration of which was assigned to the United States. It maintains
that status today.

Agriculture and fishing were the mainstays of subsistence production.
Permanent tree cropping and swidden agriculture were the principal
methods employed. Dietary staples included several species of breadfruit,
bananas, coconuts, and taro. Cassava, sugarcane, yams, turmeric, mangoes,
papayas, and other tropical fruits were minor crops. Fish, molluscs,
crustaceans, and turtles were the main sources of protein, and were
taken from the lagoon and the deep sea by a variety of means, including
nets, weirs, and hook and line. Fowling, domestic animal raising,
and collecting wild foods were practiced, but were relatively unimportant
in the economy. Before the contact period, the Trukese islanders engaged
in intra-atoll and extra-regional trade. This Micronesian trade system
broke down after contact. Contact altered other economic relations,
too, as the Europeans, Japanese, and Americans introduced a cash economy,
new crops and animals, stressed the production of exportable commodities
(especially copra and fish), and opened up wage labor possibilities.

The fundamental unit of Trukese social organization was the lineage,
a localized corporate kin group organized by matrilineal descent.
Authority within the lineage went according to age, with the headship
falling to the oldest male member. Lineages not only held property
rights in common but also formed cooperative work groups. The Trukese
were further organized locally into political districts. Each district
had a chief, who was the head of the lineage holding recognized rights
to the district land. As titular owner of the land, the chief received
and redistributed produce of the land from other lineages to which
provisional usufruct land rights had been granted. This redistribution
was accomplished through chief's feasts, which were held four times
a year. Otherwise, the chief had little authority over the lineages
within his district beyond his ability to suggest and persuade.

Above the lineage level, Goodenough (1951: 33-34) has identified ramages,
subsibs, and sibs. None of these was a unified corporate group with
a leader, and, except for ramages, members of these groups were scattered
in different districts. The bonds of recognized kinship and the frequenty
of interaction between members decreased with each successive level.
The sib, the highest level at which there was recognized kinship,
served mainly as an exogamous name group. Kinship terminology was
of the Crow type.

Choice of marriage partners was limited by sib exogamy. The most common
marriage patterns were individual choice and parental arrangement.
Once permission to marry had been obtained from the lineage, the couple
took up residence together, usually with the wife's lineage. Before
the birth of a child, a marriage was easily terminated, but once a
child was born, there were strong pressures to keep the marriage together.
The sororate and levirate were practiced, but adherence to these customs
died out after contact. Polygyny and polyandry were not proscribed
until the Europeans took control of the area, but polyandry was rarely
practiced.

The division of labor for routine tasks followed sex lines. Men did
most of the agricultural work, certain kinds of fishing, the arduous
tasks of food preparation, and the manufacture of household tools
and utensils. Women did most of the fishing, took care of the children
and routine housekeeping chores, did some of the cooking, and wove
baskets, nets, and palm fans. In addition, there were craft specialists
who commanded the skills and esoteric knowledge necessary for such
things as building houses and canoes, curing, navigating, and working
magic.

Culture summary by Eleanor C. Swanson



Goodenough, Ward H. Property, kin and community on Truk.
 Foreword by G. P. Murdock.
 New Haven, Yale University Press, 1951.
 192 p. illus., geneal.
 charts.
 Hall, Edward T. The economy of the Truk Islands: an anthropological and economic survey.
 By Edward T. Hall and Karl J. Pelzer.
 Honolulu, U.S.
 Commercial Company, Economic Survey, 1946.
 8, 113 p. map.
 Henderson, John W. Area handbook for Oceania.
 By John W. Henderson et al.
 Washington, D.C., U.S.
 Government Printing Office, 1971.
 Voegelin, C. F. Languages of the world: Indo-Pacific fascicle one.
 By Carl F. Voegelin and Florence M. Voegelin.
 Anthropological Linguistics, Vol.
 6, No.
 4, 1964.


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