Oceania

OCEANIA. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - In the broad sense this name denotes the Australian continent and the insular world that accompanies it, including the islands scattered in the Pacific Ocean south of the Tropic of Cancer (that is, an emerged surface of slightly less than 9 million sq km, with 12.5 million inhabitants); in the proper sense, it denotes only this insular world, which occupies about 1¼ million sq km, with 3½ million inhabitants. Here Oceania is considered in this second and narrower acceptation (see also: AUSTRALIA).

The western limit of Oceania can be fixed by means of a line which, starting from the Arafura Sea, passes between the Aru and the Kei Islands, leaves the Moluccas and the Philippines outside, and continuing roughly along the 130th meridian E. of Greenwich, crosses the Tropic of Cancer so as to embrace the entire Hawaiian archipelago. From here, running SE, the line cuts across the Ocean until it reaches, beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, the Sala y Gomez and Easter Islands, and then runs southward so as to reach the Macquarie Islands, New Zealand with its physical dependencies, and finally crosses the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait. In this way the extreme points of Oceania are: 30° 30' N. (Gange Island) - 55° S. (Macquarie Islands); 129° E. (Spice Islands, west of Misol) - 103° 30' W. of Greenwich (Sala y Gomez Islands). The distances that result from this (and which exceed 85° of latitude and 125° of longitude), however, while they may serve to give an idea of the great dispersion of the islands of Oceania, must not make one forget that most of them lie south of the Equator and are grouped in archipelagos, and that these become less frequent as one proceeds from west to east.

The traditional subdivision speaks of: 1) Melanesia ("Islands of the Blacks"), or Macronesia ("Great islands"), for the islands that fringe to the NE of Australia from New Guinea to New Caledonia and the Fijis, where there are mountainous territories and the Melanesians or Papuans live; 2) Micronesia ("Small islands") for the archipelagos that extend from the Palau to the Ellice (Bonin, Marianne, Caroline, Marshall, Gilbert); 3) Polynesia (4 Many islands 4) for the swarms of islands that encircle the two preceding sectors in a semicircle, extending from Hawaii to New Zealand (Samoa, Tonga, Marquesas, Society Islands, Paumotu, etc.).

Of the smaller islands, the low ones correspond as a rule to atolls (coral reefs that have arisen on submarine elevations, often enclosing lagoons), more numerous to the E. and N.; the high and mountainous ones to volcanic formations (there are at least some thirty active edifices since historical times), the highest of which are found in New Guinea, Hawaii and New Zealand. Submarine eruptions are also frequent.

Climatic conditions vary far less than the differences in latitude would lead one to presume, but with an evident divergence between the large islands, where subcontinental or continental forms also occur, and the small ones, in which, despite local varieties, oceanic forms dominate, with constantly high temperature, slight annual and diurnal ranges, and more or less copious precipitation. Such climates naturally assume an equatorial character between 10° N. and 15° S., a subequatorial one on both sides of the Tropics up to 10° N. beyond the Tropic of Cancer, up to 15° S. beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, and finally a temperate character, better suited to Whites, in the southern hemisphere S. of the Tropic (New Zealand) or in the extreme E., where the influence of the trade wind is felt all year round. Typical is the contrast between the eastern quadrants, beaten by the trade winds and therefore with luxuriant vegetation (rain forest), and the western ones, where drought or lower humidity allow barely savanna or steppe.

The vegetation is poor in species, and becomes even poorer in the eastern archipelagos. The most common plants are palms, pandanus, mangrove, sandalwood, breadfruit, ferns, etc., and above all the coconut palm, whose fruit constitutes the main export item. The terrestrial fauna is equally poor, lacking, as in Australia, the large mammals, while the avifauna and ichthyofauna are exceptionally rich.

The population (4.3 million inhabitants) is very irregularly distributed: about 9/10 are concentrated in New Zealand (more than 2/5), in New Guinea (over 1/3) and in Hawaii. On the small islands the densities reach consistently modest figures (91 per sq. km. in American Samoa): the exceptions correspond to the few cases in which mineral resources are exploited (phosphates, gold: on Nauru the density exceeds 160 inhabitants per sq. km.). The natives form almost the entire population; natives all probably derived from a primitive transmanoid type, but subsequently differentiated into several groups and usually gathered into three branches: Papuans, Melanesians and Polynesians. Of these, the first two, who live on the western islands, are characterized by dolichocephaly, medium stature, brown complexion, black spiral hair and a broad, flattened nose, while the Polynesians, settled in the distant eastern archipelagos, have lighter skin, taller stature and straight, wavy hair. Contact with the Whites, which became intense only after the beginning of the 19th century, has everywhere reduced the number of natives, aggravating, despite the recent immigration of people of color (mostly Yellows), the shortage of labor that has hindered and continues to hinder the rational development of Oceania's resources. These, moreover, especially as regards the subsoil, are still far from being known. On the other hand, economic and civil development presents, as is natural, great differences from one part to another: on the major islands, for example, the contrast is evident between the rapid and brilliant development achieved by New Zealand and the still primitive state in which New Guinea is kept, which is nonetheless so much larger and richer (nor are the reasons for this delay solely of a climatic character). The exploitation of Oceania's island world, begun with the felling of forests, whaling and sealing, then concentrated on the agricultural sector, where, alongside native plants (tropical fruits), the number of those introduced from other regions has grown (rice, cocoa, coffee, cotton, citrus fruits, etc.), although the cost of transport made necessary by the great distances hampers an efficient commercial expansion.

Spain, Holland, England and France were, in order of time, the first to set foot on the island territories of Oceania; but toward the end of the last century Germany also made its entry there (1884: Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, N. E. New Guinea; 1888: Nauru; 1898: Marianne; 1899: Caroline), and the United States (1898: Hawaii and Guam; 1899: Samoa), while Spain abandoned its positions (after the unfortunate war against the United States, concluded with the Treaty of Paris of 10 Dec. 1898); lastly, Germany's place, defeated in the First World War, was taken by Japan (mandate over the Marianas, excluding Guam, the Carolines, the Marshalls, and the Palau with Yap), which was however also eliminated in favor of the United States, after the Second World War. At present, with the greater and better part of the British possessions having passed to the two Dominions of Australia and New Zealand, the United States has secured a situation which, without being able to be defined as one of privilege, nonetheless clearly balances the influence of all the other powers. With a good half of New Guinea (the only part of the Dutch Indies left outside the Indonesian Union), Holland retains an excellent position in Oceania, more favorable to further development (agricultural, mining and industrial) than that of France and perhaps even of England itself, now reduced to the possession of only the central archipelagos. The French Establishments in Oceania comprise the archipelagos - about a hundred islands in all - most easterly of Polynesia, between about 8° and 28° S., namely (proceeding from N. to S.): the Marquesas Islands (1271 sq. km.), the Tuamotu or Puamotu, or Low (the most scattered and numerous of the archipelagos; 885 sq. km.); the Society Islands (1647 sq. km.), in which is Tahiti (1042 sq. km.) which alone gathers about half the population of all the Establishments; the Tubuai or Austral, the Gambier, Rapa and Morotiri. Altogether 3998 sq. km. and 50 thousand inhabitants, mostly Maori with nuclei of French, Chinese and Indochinese. The seat of the governor of the Colony is in Papeete, on the Island of Tahiti.

In the table that follows, which orders the island world of Oceania according to current political affiliations, the territories given in trusteeship administration are marked with an asterisk. Since, for reasons of space, it is not possible to indicate the names of all the islands included in the various administrative units, those of the smaller islands have been omitted, to which the abbreviation dp (= dependencies) refers.

POLITICAL DIVISION OF OCEANIA

(1952)

Giuseppe Caraci

II. EVANGELIZATION

The first Catholic mission in Oceania, after various fruitless earlier attempts, began in the 17th century, when the Jesuits of the Philippines undertook the conversion of the Mariana Islands. From 1668 to 1672 the Jesuit Diego Luis Sanvitoros succeeded in founding a flourishing mission there, and in 1672 he died there a martyr. Although until 1682 another 12 Jesuits suffered martyrdom, they managed to maintain the mission of the Marianas until the suppression of the Society. It was continued by the Augustinian Recollects (1768-1889) and later by the Capuchins and Jesuits. Other attempts to found missions in Oceania failed, such as those of the Jesuits at the beginning of the 18th century in the Palau Islands and in the Carolines, where Fr. Juan Antonio Cantova was famous, and those of the Franciscans in Tahiti from 1772 to 1775.

Only in the 19th century was a systematic missionary activity undertaken by Catholics throughout Oceania. Protestants, on the other hand, had already been working there with good results since the end of the 18th century.

In 1827 the first missionaries of the Society of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus) landed on the Island of Hawaii. In 1829 the S. Congr. of Prop. Fide erected the apostolic prefecture of the Islands of the South Sea or Great Ocean, comprising the territories "between the Equator and the Antarctic pole and between Easter Island and New Zealand" inclusive, and entrusted it to the priest Henri de Solages. In 1832 two apostolic vicariates were erected: that of "Polynesia or Eastern Oceania," entrusted to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, and that of "Polynesia or Western Oceania," entrusted in 1835 to the Society of Mary (Marists).

In Eastern Oceania grave persecutions and the expulsion of the Missionaries from the Sandwich Islands, the center of the mission, prevented effective activity, until in 1839 in a treaty with France the Catholics obtained freedom of action. Meanwhile the Picpusians, setting out from Chile, had established themselves from 1834 in the Gambier Islands, converting almost the entire population, and from 1836 had begun the mission in Tahiti and in the Marquesas Islands. In 1844 the Sandwich Islands were elevated to an apostolic vicariate (in 1941 to the diocese of Honolulu) and the remainder of Eastern Oceania was divided into two vicariates: Marquesas Islands and Tahiti.

In Western Oceania Jean-Baptiste Pompallier had been appointed first apostolic vicar in 1836. He took up residence in New Zealand. On his journey of 1837 he had left the Marists Pierre Marie Bataillon on the Island of Wallis and Pierre-Louis-Marie Chanel on that of Futuna. After initial difficulties the Island of Wallis was converted in 1842 and became an exemplary Catholic state. Fr. Chanel, on the other hand, incurred the hatred of the chief of Futuna and was martyred: but the King's successor received Baptism with the majority of the people, so that the Island of Futuna was entirely Christianized in 1843. In 1842 the vicariate of Central Oceania was separated from Western Oceania; from this there gradually originated the other missions of the Marists of the region: New Caledonia in 1847, where they had already been working since 1843; the Navigators' Archipelago in 1850, where they had already begun evangelization in 1845; the New Hebrides, in which methodical work was begun only in 1887, erected as a prefecture in 1901, vicariate in 1904.

From western Oceania, subsequently reduced to New Zealand and the Kermadec Islands and divided in 1848 into the dioceses of Auckland and Port Nicholson (v. NUOVA ZELANDA), the two vicariates of Melanesia and Micronesia were separated in 1842, also entrusted to the Marists. In less than three years, in the attempts to found the mission, lost their lives, through murder or fever: two bishops, 4 fathers and one brother, and only on the small islands of Woodlark and Rook did the Marists succeed in establishing themselves. In 1852 the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan undertook the mission, but in 1885, Father Giovanni Mazzucconi having been murdered, it withdrew. In 1881 Melanesia and Micronesia were entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Msgr. Enrico Verjus began the mission of New Guinea; here, as well as in New Britain (or Pomerania) and in the Gilbert Islands, they succeeded in establishing themselves. A part of New Guinea passed in 1896 to the Missionaries of the Divine Word. In the Solomon Islands in 1898 the Marist Fathers began the mission.

Despite the difficulties arising from the primitive populations, in part still cannibal, and from political events and wars, the mission of O. obtained good results. In 1950 O. was divided into 1 diocese, 18 apostolic vicariates and 1 apostolic prefecture.

III. ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION

The ecclesiastical organization (according to current political affiliation, in alphabetical order) is as follows:

AMERICAN OCEANIA: NAVIGATOR ISLANDS, apostolic vicariate in 1850, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists); GUAM, apostolic vicariate in 1911, entrusted to the Capuchins; HONOLULU, apostolic vicariate of the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands in 1844, diocese of Honolulu in 1941, entrusted to the Society of the Sacred Hearts; CAROLINE AND MARSHALL ISLANDS, in 1886 two missions: western Carolines and eastern Carolines, reunited into a single prefecture of the Caroline Islands in 1905; united with the apostolic prefecture of the Mariana Islands, in 1911 apostolic vicariate of the Mariana and Caroline Islands, in 1923, with the apostolic vicariate of the Marshall Islands (since 1905) united, apostolic vicariate of the Mariana Islands, current name: Caroline and Marshall Islands, entrusted to the Jesuits.

BRITISH AND AUSTRALIAN OCEANIA: COOK ISLANDS, apostolic prefecture of Cook and Manihiki in 1922, current name in 1926, apostolic vicariate in 1948, entrusted to the Society of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus); FIJI ISLANDS, apostolic prefecture in 1863, apostolic vicariate in 1887, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists); GILBERT ISLANDS, apostolic vicariate in 1897, entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; SOUTHERN SOLOMON ISLANDS, apostolic prefecture of the British Solomon Islands in 1897, current name in 1904, apostolic vicariate in 1912, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists); NORTHERN SOLOMON ISLANDS, apostolic prefecture of the German Solomon Islands in 1898, current name in 1904, apostolic vicariate in 1930, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists); TONGA ISLANDS, apostolic vicariate of central Oceania in 1842, current name in 1937, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists); CENTRAL NEW GUINEA, apostolic prefecture of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland in 1913 western, current name in 1922, apostolic vicariate in 1931, entrusted to the Society of the Divine Word (Steyl); EASTERN NEW GUINEA, apostolic prefecture of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland in 1896, name of eastern Kaiser-Wilhelmsland in 1913, apostolic vicariate in 1922 with the current name, entrusted to the Society of the Divine Word (Steyl); PORT MORESBY, apostolic vicariate of New Guinea in 1889, name of Papua in 1922, current name in 1946, entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; RABAUL, apostolic vicariate of New Britain in 1889, name of New Pomerania in 1890, current name in 1922, entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; SAMARAI, apostolic prefecture in 1946, entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

FRENCH OCEANIA: MARQUESAS ISLANDS, apostolic vicariate in 1848, entrusted to the Society of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus); NEW HEBRIDES ISLANDS, apostolic prefecture in 1901, apostolic vicariate in 1904, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists); TAHITI ISLANDS, apostolic vicariate in 1848, entrusted to the Society of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus); WALLIS AND FUTUNA ISLANDS, apostolic vicariate in 1935, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists); NEW CALEDONIA, apostolic vicariate in 1847, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists). - See plates II-III.

Giovanni Rommerskirchen