Polynesian Confederation

From Wikipedia:

King Kalākaua (of Hawaii) is said to have wanted to build a Polynesian Empire. In 1886, legislature granted the government $30,000 for the formation of a Polynesian confederation. The King sent representatives to Sāmoa, where Malietoa Laupepa agreed to a confederation between the two kingdoms. This confederation did not last very long, however, since King Kalākaua lost power the next year to the Bayonet constitution, and thus a reformist party came into power that ended the alliance.

What if an earlier Hawaiian monarch opened his eyes to European colonialism before it really stepped foot in the Pacific, and set about trying to establish a pan-Polynesian identity? A common Polynesian language is created, using the rongorongo script of Easter island, and a native religion or one that fuses Christianity and native beliefs is spread. They implement some European ideas, like a common constitution, law, and currency.

For the most part the Wikipedia is correct, tho the name actually considered, since there was an Order associated with it, was the Federated Empire of Oceania. A few history books on Samoa mention that Kalakaua's predecessor, I think, Kamehameha III had been offered the crown of King of Samoa. He had been advised by his Foreign Minister, Robert Wyllie, to refuse - and probably with good reason.

There already exists a 'common' Polynesian language, Hawaiian and Tahitian are fairly close. Rongorongo script of Easter Island is a fairly dead and its adoption would have been more academic than realistic.

Given the state of Samoan politics in the 1880s, when Kalakaua tried the one and only attempt at Hawaiian gunboat diplomacy, was a terrible mess I really doubt that Samoa would be any credible member to rely on. Early just may work. The FEO really needs money, and its needs something besides sugar and copra. I think an important island to include somehow would be Nauru. All that guano, in its multitude of uses, is a good commodity on any market.

Gaining Tonga and Fiji would do well also.

Its entirely possible that Hawaii could become the 'Prussia of the Pacific', partly since King Kamehameha the Great is often called the 'Napoleon of the Pacific'. Following a trip to Hawaii last February I did work out a brief timeline, since I latched onto the idea that one really had to forestall the decline of the Warrior class in post-Contact Hawaiian culture. I zeroed in on a workable POD and developed a timeline from there.

While the Hawaiian mission to Samoa did almost cause a German-Hawaiian War, at least if one is to believe Bismarck, until the rise of Japan Hawaii has a fairly good shot at being a major power in the Pacific. Its so far from other theaters of potential wars that a few Hawaiian cruisers, even second class, would outclass most colonial warships.

What I meant by common language would basically be a standardization of all of the regional Polynesian dialects and languages in the way that German or any other major language has a standard form as well as the regional varients.

As for rongorongo, it may be dead and undecipherable today, but I imagine that during the period this unification would take place, there would still be some Rapanui literate in it. The Hawaiians would see the value of the dying script as a unique Polynesian feat, polish it, and revive it throughout the Pacific. According to Easter Island tradition, the rongorongo was invented long before the Europeans came around and was brought to the island from elsewhere in Polynesia. Perhaps the legends might appeal to the Hawaiians.

Most of Easter Island's native population was taken into slavery by Peruvians and Chileans in the 19th century, so if the Hawaiians see the Rapanui as fellow Polynesians and act fast enough, they could prevent that from happening, thus keeping Easter Island's culture much more intact than in OTL.

Not strictly on subject, but in the TL I'm working on I've had the Kingdom of the Friendly Islands (Tonga) take eastern Fiji and the Kingdom of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) take the Middlebrooks (Midway).

I'm the kind of guy who will research old names and spellings for a TL.

I'm not even sure that Kalakaua would be aware of rongorongo.

When the first European arrived in 1722, he made no mention of a written language, but instead of the surprisingly low population and level of civilization on the island, which boasted these huge statues. No mention of any script was made until 1864, and it was not until 1868 that Europeans actually got their hands on any of the 21 surviving tablets. Most accounts of the script blame the missionaries for their destruction, but I find this unlikely for two reasons:

• The missionaries were the first Europeans to note the existence of the written language and were the first to try to collect the tablets;
• Wood had been scarce on Easter Island since the days of Roggeveen at the very least (1722), and it seems likely to me that the islanders themselves had burned them for fuel, as they had long since lost the ability to read them.

The rongorongo script had not be actively used since 1722 at the very least, so if you want it to be a going concern, the POD will have to take place before the collapse of Easter Island society sometime towards the end of the seventeenth century.

Malayo-Polynesian languages do boast other scripts; in addition to the Roman and the Arabic ones, there are more traditional ones based upon the Brahmi script of India, used for Malay-Polynesian languages in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines:

Balinese

Batak

Javanese

Redjang

Tagalog

Tagbanwa

While I'll grant you that Indonesia and the Philippines are far from Hawaii, the adoption of any one of these scripts would be considerably easier than the adoption of the extinct rongorongo script; for starters, each has an extant literature in it, which helps solve questions of orthography, writing style, etc. With rongorongo, the Polynesians would virtually be starting from scratch.

VoCSe said:

Not strictly on subject, but in the TL I'm working on I've had the Kingdom of the Friendly Islands (Tonga) take eastern Fiji and the Kingdom of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) take the Middlebrooks (Midway).

I'm the kind of guy who will research old names and spellings for a TL.

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Funny the Hawaiians never called themselves 'Sandwich Islanders'. Heck, none of the names given by the European are the 'old names'.

I strongly doubt (to flatly rejecting) the idea that rongorongo would be adopted. Undoubtedly the most likely example to look to is India where thousands of dialects are used but English is very much a common tongue spoken by all. It is amazing to see how, at least the Hawaiians, really seized upon the idea of a written language when the Missionaries first arrived. The proliferation of Hawaiian language newspapers is surprising also.

I think it will be very hard to adopt a non-Western script when most of the information and skilled knowledge that you will be getting at the same time is in English. So, in at least the first decades, I doubt its use would be widespread. However, if one was to consider that there may be a 'renaissance' of sorts in 'traditional Polynesian' culture during the 1970s or so, possibly as a means to return Oceania to its non-Western roots, than I could see rongorongo being contemplated.

Fantastic Rugby

They (the island federation) would probably field a strong rugby side, especially if you throw in Fiji and Tonga. Yes I realize that the pacific warriors didn't do much but a side that had a history of more then 100 yrs might fair a bit better.

David S Poepoe said:

Funny the Hawaiians never called themselves 'Sandwich Islanders'. Heck, none of the names given by the European are the 'old names'.

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I meant the Old ENGLISH names. As a quirk, in my TL the Europeans never adopt/adapt the native names, and it's their perspective here.

I heard somewhere that on a treaty signed between the British and the Maoris of New Zealand, the Maori cheifs signed their names using glyph-like symbols. I wonder if they looked anything like the rongorongo symbols.

Nauru for phosphates, Fiji and Lihir for gold, and New Caledonia for nickel-cobalt-chrome.

Any polynesian empire would depend hugely on a navy, however they would never be able to compete with the European and American vessels of the time. The actual formation of a polynesian empire would just make it easier for the British to conquer them since (a) they would have an excuse and (b) they could replace the empire at the top and inherit any administrative framework already in place.

Even today polynesians are very tribal - I'm not sure their world view would include a fraternal solidarity with Hawaiians.

wkwillis said:

Nauru for phosphates, Fiji and Lihir for gold, and New Caledonia for nickel-cobalt-chrome.

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Or these days one would just need Fiji for its water.

hexicus said:

Any polynesian empire would depend hugely on a navy, however they would never be able to compete with the European and American vessels of the time. The actual formation of a polynesian empire would just make it easier for the British to conquer them since (a) they would have an excuse and (b) they could replace the empire at the top and inherit any administrative framework already in place.

Even today polynesians are very tribal - I'm not sure their world view would include a fraternal solidarity with Hawaiians.

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Being dependent upon a navy just goes without saying, tho one would just go to the European manufacturers for warships. I don't necessarily think the British would conquer any Polynesian Empire, firstly since they wouldn't have an excuse and secondly the Pacific is one place where the British expanded into in bursts and fits. It wasn't entirely crazy would taking over Fiji and Tonga actually asked to be annexed.

David S Poepoe said:

Being dependent upon a navy just goes without saying, tho one would just go to the European manufacturers for warships. I don't necessarily think the British would conquer any Polynesian Empire, firstly since they wouldn't have an excuse and secondly the Pacific is one place where the British expanded into in bursts and fits. It wasn't entirely crazy would taking over Fiji and Tonga actually asked to be annexed.

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It is unlikely that a Polynesian empire would bother with warships, assuming that they could afford them. After all it has been pointed out that the British are not likely to invade them so they wouldn't need to buy them.

Also, the only non-European state to build a serious navy was Japan (for this I am counting American states as Europeans). Whilst it did use it to defeat China, it took French and German threats seriously enough to retreat from its gains.

In any event the British don't have to take over the entire Empire. They can do as they did with China, namely chew away at the edges of it and once they start you can be sure that the French would right in there getting their cut.

Michael B said:

In any event the British don't have to take over the entire Empire. They can do as they did with China, namely chew away at the edges of it and once they start you can be sure that the French would right in there getting their cut.

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Why would the Brits bother? If the Polynesians don't manage to field a proper navy they'll be dependent on the British to guarantee their defence anyway. And with that British corporations can move in. Think of Iran- no point conquering a place and spending money on having to directly govern it if your traders, planters etc. are allowed to operate there by a friendly native government.

It's not as if Britain is scoring victory points for every country she takes.

Michael B said:

It is unlikely that a Polynesian empire would bother with warships, assuming that they could afford them. After all it has been pointed out that the British are not likely to invade them so they wouldn't need to buy them.

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If you could afford them you would need a warship since that is the symbol of a power capable of defending its territory and sovereignty. I don't think the Hawaiian, at least, have to worry about the British invading, but the Americans have to be carefully watched. You will need some sort of ship to enforce your territorial waters and fishing grounds, etc. as well as any sort of merchant marine you have.

Why do people think that Britain (or at least another European power) wouldn't invade? They invaded everywhere - just for status sometimes. Plus the British controlled many islands in polynesia (likewise the French) in OTL.

hexicus said:

Why do people think that Britain (or at least another European power) wouldn't invade? They invaded everywhere - just for status sometimes. Plus the British controlled many islands in polynesia (likewise the French) in OTL.

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If a unite Polynesian Empire exists the British would probably "invade" it economically instead, like they did in Thailand and Argentina... Working with a local government is always easier than going in and making your own, after all.
The British colonized Polynesia because the French were starting to, and so it became a matter of status- if Polynesia is already a state in the British sphere, France will think twice before forming colonies there.

hexicus said:

Why do people think that Britain (or at least another European power) wouldn't invade? They invaded everywhere - just for status sometimes. Plus the British controlled many islands in polynesia (likewise the French) in OTL.

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Unless I entirely mistaken Hawaii was the last Polynesian island nation to fall to the Great Powers. I'm fairly certain that had Hawaii remained independent until 1900 than it would independent to this day. The closing decade of the 19th century was just a perilous time for it. Japan certainly would not have invaded it, it has enough things to worry about in its portion of the world. The United States is the power to worry about.

Tahiti I'm less certain of, tho I know that once the Royal Family, or Ruling Family, over there fell they destroyed all remaining symbols of power. Tonga and Fiji requested annexation by Britain because there wasn't anybody else they wanted to be associated with.