Where would you rather live: Pacific Islands or Russia?

[CosmoLady]

The only creepy thing about the Pacific Islands is the presence of the Coconut Crab (Birgus latro),
which is gigantic and menacing but not aggressive.
Some islands are without insects; these very large crabs live on land and fulfill the scavenger role as insects do.








This one is about to be lunch.
Notice the segmented body (thorax, abdomen) like an insect, only much larger.

[Cybele]

You mean to the early 20th century I guess.

My bad.

To the 1930s, I doubt it. Maybe you are conflating blackbirding (slave raids, kidnapping) with recruitment? That's not fair.

Yes, till 1930. Blackbirding does not refer only to slave raids and kidnapping, but also tricking natives into working as poorly paid labourers. The recruitment of Islanders was many times highly unregulated and open to abuse.

Children as young as six years old could be legally recruited on lengthy contracts of up to twelve years. These children could also be legally paid at only half the rate of adults and given only half the required rations. Somewhere between a quarter and half of all the Islanders transported and forced to labour at New Caledonia were children

And FROM where did victims of blackbirding come? From somewhere outside of the control of Europeans.

The vast majority of those blackbirded and recruited in New Caledonia, were coming from New Hebrides, some from Solomon Islands, etc.

The French, Brits, Germans and so on were competing for these Pacific islands, so full control by one colonial power or two at the same time over a place, appeared a bit later. Also, there were times when workers stopped being brought from other islands, the process being resumed later on. And with recruiting; at times “free labourers” contrary to the name, were at the mercy of their employers, many simply escaped by running away.

Parts of the Solomon Islands got under German protectorate in 1885, then in 1893 Brits declared protectorate in the islands too. Until, it got under complete British rule in 1900. Same with New Hebrides, French and Brits had claims over it, since 1880 and they ended up ruling it together. So, these territories were somewhat under European control.

Between 1887 and 1890, 1221 “free labourers” from the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands arrived in New Caledonia. These workers were not registered in the Immigration’ Office lists and no charges were paid to the government. They had no control over the conditions of work, payment of wages, the issue of rations and clothing or repatriation.

Was there any blackbirding FROM New Caledonia after Europeans took control?
I don't think so, but there is a large area of over 100 islands, similar to French Polynesia.
Unless there is a European legal presence on every island, who knows what can happen.

I think after French took it, the Kanaks were not blackbirded or recruited. Unless as you mentioned, if there would have been an exception, somehow.
The Kanaks from there as far as I know, were placed in reservations.

Even Papua New Guinea became a colony in 1884,
but has 600 islands with dense jungle, and is de-facto anarchic, outside of the control of Europeans through the 20th century.
Slavery is still widespread in the Congo in the 21st century! The early 20th century was a "relatively" humane peaceful time.

You will be surprised that many natives prefer a life where they are fed, housed, and paid meagerly,
and have access to CARGO, the trinkets of the white man. The natives are very attracted to cargo.
Cargo has more value to them than money.

And this is much better for them than a primitive life with no cargo,
where they can always be killed and eaten by the other tribe. Their life was brutal and violent long before they met Europeans.

I know that many natives prefer a paid plantation life for its meagre material advantages, and relative peace,
because they or their descendants usually refuse to return to their native tribe when the plantation inevitably closes.

I think this maybe can be talked about in more detail, in another thread. There were some good things brought by Europeans, others not so good.
But the fact that natives revolted, shows that their life under colonists, was not all that great.