Truk: Difference between revisions

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The archipelago is believed to have been settled by Polynesian peoples since at least 600 BCE, with cave pictograms and tool remnants being recovered pointing to that period. The ancestors of the people of Truk might have been stragglers left behind from those that went to [[Vallos]] or simply a community that saw the islands as fit to settle on. The name of the pre-islamic civilization of Truk is extrapolated from engravings in pottery as the Karo. Early Karo peoples survived from fishing, gathering mussels on the shore and picking fruit; game was very rare limited only to small birds and rodents. Over time the Karo of Sinta and Anako sailed east and spread to the other islands of the archipelago, such that Karo settlement spanned all of the islands. Discovery of stone foundations and burial sites allow archeologists to estimate the existence of at least sixteen different sites that could have been habitated in this early period.  
The archipelago is believed to have been settled by Polynesian peoples since at least 600 BCE, with cave pictograms and tool remnants being recovered pointing to that period. The ancestors of the people of Truk might have been stragglers left behind from those that went to [[Vallos]] or simply a community that saw the islands as fit to settle on. The name of the pre-islamic civilization of Truk is extrapolated from engravings in pottery as the Karo. Early Karo peoples survived from fishing, gathering mussels on the shore and picking fruit; game was very rare limited only to small birds and rodents. Over time the Karo of Sinta and Anako sailed east and spread to the other islands of the archipelago, such that Karo settlement spanned all of the islands. Discovery of stone foundations and burial sites allow archeologists to estimate the existence of at least sixteen different sites that could have been habitated in this early period.  


The emergence of the Melat kingdom on the island of Parapo can be traced back to the second century and lasted into the 9th century, asserting its control over all of Truk as is attested by large stone steles on each island declaring the glories of the rule of King Pokok(believed to have been between the years of 327 to 355). It is under the Melat kingdom that the settlement that became Imarli was founded, it was not however the capital or even an important settlement until after the kingdom had been destroyed. All references of Melat and its kings abruptly stop in the year 907. It is theorized that an invasion by other migratory polynesians took place that a the very least demolished the political and societal structures of Melat. The invaders did no reestablish any political structure of their own, instead plunging the islands back into basic tribalism. Fragments of oral tradition call the following years as ''the Jaws of Hunger'', a two hundred year period of extreme deprivation and inter-communal violence that also led to technological and societal regression.
The emergence of the Melat kingdom on the island of Parapo can be traced back to the second century and lasted into the 9th century, asserting its control over all of Truk as is attested by large stone steles on each island declaring the glories of the rule of King Pokok(believed to have been between the years of 327 to 355). It is under the Melat kingdom that the settlement that became Imarli was founded, it was not however the capital or even an important settlement until after the kingdom had been destroyed. All references of Melat and its kings abruptly stop in the year 907. It is theorized that an invasion by other migratory polynesians took place that a the very least demolished the political and societal structures of Melat. The invaders did no reestablish any political structure of their own, instead plunging the islands back into basic tribalism. Fragments of oral tradition call the following years as ''the Jaws of Hunger'', a two hundred year period of extreme deprivation and inter-communal violence that also led to technological and societal regression.
 
Eventually a tribe known as the Bagus that was directly descended from one of the noble families of the Melat era began forming alliances through marriage with other 'originator' tribes. King Eka of the Bagus proclaimed (as attested in clay tablets dated to 1101) anyone descended from the invading tribes as unclean ones, to be killed without exception. Thus the Bagus and allied tribes started a period of great bloodletting, including the ritualistic consumption of their enemies. The shocking violence reasserted the primacy of the older settled tribes over the newer ones but also greatly depopulated Truk. As one of the few settlements in habitable state, Imarli was chosen by the Bagus to serve as their new capital.
===Emirate of Truk===
===Emirate of Truk===
In the year 1251 an Islamic mystic by the name of [[Sayed Ali Qumi]] arrived by accident on the islands with a few companions after being shipwrecked in a storm. Qumi proceeded to successfully spread Islam to the people of Imarli by recounting the martial prowess of the Oduniyyad caliphs As the people of Truk did not have alcohol or pigs, forbbiding their consumption was not an obstacle to conversion. The King of Truk of the day adopted the islamic first name of Akhmat to signal his new piety and began to style himself as emir, in imitation of Muslim rulers under Oduniyyad suzerainty.
==Economy==
==Economy==
==Politics==
==Politics==