| This website is a work of fiction, part of the collaborative constructed world of Ill Bethisad. It is not intended to reflect reality or the creator's opinions on current issues. |
| The Island Economy |
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| Last updated 18 February 2008 by Ben Karnell |
| henua.tk |
| Sponsored by the Tourism Advisorate, Council of Te Pito O Te Henua, in cooperation with the Commission for Offshore Preservation, Ecotopic Republic of Oregon. |
| In many ways, barter and clan-based redistribution remain the foundation of the Henua economy. If you are a fisherman, part of your catch goes to the head of your family, who keeps some and distributes the rest among the family members according to need or to repay various gifts and favors. The family patriarch then passes some of the fish on to the chief of the ure, or lineage, who keeps some and redistributes the rest among the other family heads. The ure chief in turn delivers a portion of the fish to the Ariki, or clan chief, who has great discretion in managing the resources of the entire clan This system of redistribution goes all the way up to the king, as it has for centuries all over Polynesia. Before the arrival of Westerners and Japanese, this system, coupled with a lively system of barter, encompassed the island's entire system of economic exchange. Whalers from New England introduced the terms pa'una (pound) and moni (money), changing the Henua economy forever. Foregin traders introduced imports, mainly industrial products, and took away exports, mainly cultural artifacts and curiosities. Japanese protection in 1876 brought changes to this traditional economy. The government was granted land around Hanga Piko and built small port facilities. A cash economy based on the Japanese lo developed within the concession and just to the north of it, in the growing town of Hanga Roa. In addition, private Japanese investors developed a cash crop economy. Since they were not allowed to purchase land outright, the investors funded cooperatives of farmers. The co-ops partially eroded the authority of the clan ariki, since they included members from different clans. However, few individual farmers joined them without their extended families, or mohingo. Consequently, the family-based redistribution system was preserved. While all families in the co-ops shared in the profits, most had one family accountant who handled the money and redistributed the products among the family members. Naturally, the clan chiefs took their share of the profits as well. The growth of tourism since around 1970 has made money a much more important part of the Henua economy than it ever was. Although a typical Henua farmer, rancher, or laborer handles money only a few times a month, anyone who works in a field connected with tourism, whether at the aerodrome, at an inn, hostel, or hotel, or as a guide must use money everyday. Currently, money on Henua is still largely a touristy thing. Your grandmother liked to tell you that she had never heard of money until her early twenties when she got a job cleaning a hostel near Hanga Roa She exaggerated, but that's Grandma for you. Most Henua alive since the late nineteenth century have used money, albeit often as sparingly as possible. As an intermediate stage between barter and money, Henua has a semiformal system of "traditional exchange media" consisting of cultural objects such as turtle shells and artwork that are used in a way similar to money. Different clans set different rates fo exchange between such objects and actual currency, and on the whole the system suffers from not being standardized island-wide |
| Exchange systems |
| Major products |
| Henua's most important resources are culture, wind power, agricultural products, and wildlife, in approximately that order. Henua's most important exportable resources are its culture and archaeological heritage. Henua was on the forefront of the ecotourism movement; ecologically sound tourism was an essential step to prevent the rising numbers of tourists from damaging the monuments or the natural landscape. One of the biggest players in the Henua tourist economy is Rapa Nui Ecotours, Ltd. RNEL is owned partly by the Henua government, but also by entrepreneurs from Henua and other nations in Polynesia. Founded in 1992, its goal is to promote ecologically sensitive tourism and to keep tourism in the hands of Polynesians. The use of the name Rapa Nui, the name Henua is known by in the rest of Polynesia but not outside it, reflects a desire to attract more tourists from other Pacific nations. Henua is currently developing its underutilized wind resources. Electricity was unknown on the island until the 1940s, and then was produced by small, oil-driven generators. Families, farming cooperatives, and businesses either generated their own electricity or invested in generators with other private entities. The Miru clan built the island's first wind turbine in 1987, and from that point turbines slowly began replacing generators. Henua's government began to implement a national electrification plan in 1996. Thus far, ten turbines have been built, six off the northern coast and four on Mount Terevaka. Oregon donated the six offshore turbines in 2000. Given Henua's windy climate, the turbine system, once completed, should be able to power every building and car on the island. Henua's farmers grow subsistence crops as well as commodities for export. Staple crops include the all-important kumara or sweet potato, as well as taro, bananas, sugarcane, gourds, and tumeric. The toromiro palm is a key, though tightly regulated, source of wood. Domesticated animals include descendants of the chickens brought by the original settlers and cattle, horses, and sheep brought by recent visitors. Only old people still eat rats; besides, they're more scarce than they once were with all the cats running around. Unlike the Chileans of our timeline, the Japanese developed commercial farming on Henua. While the Empire's government was mainly interested in the island as a garrisson, several entrepreneurs saw its potential to grow fruits for South American markets. Pineapples, bananas, grapes, and wool were early exports, although the wool exports proved unprofitable. The terms of the Japanese-Henua treaty of protection prohibited any Japanese from buying land on the island outside the tiny Hanga Piko concession. Instead, Japanese investors organized family leaders and farmers into cooperatives who sent their financiers a share of the profits. A few of the cooperatives from this era still exist today. Arabica coffee cultivation began in 1922. Today, Kave Rapa Nui is known as a rare and unusual roast in South America. Henua wines have a reputation for being exotic and quirky but unexceptional. The sea provides fish, shellfish, seabird eggs, whales, porpoises, and sea turtles. The last three are traditionally the exclusive domain of the chief; this means in practice that they cannot be consumed or sold to tourist restaurants without paying a generous fee to the national government Henua's chief imports are petroleum, clothing, manufactured goods, and processed food. As the national wind network grows, petroleum imports are expected to decline. |
| Currency |
| The currency is the pa'una or pauna, derived from the "pounds" used by New England whalers in the nineteenth century. The pa'una is pegged to the Japanese lo at a fixed rate of 4 pa'una = 7 lo. Subdivisions: 1 pa'una = 12 peto (from the Castilian "peso") = 120 vunu (from the Japanese "fun") One interesting coin is the mo'ai, an 800=pa'una coin with an image of a moai statue painstakingly carved from obsidian This coin derives its value from the quality of the artwork as well as its store of Japanese currency. Actual obsidian mo'ai have not been made in decades, but mo'ai, half-moai, and quarter-mo'ai notes continue to be printed in small quantities every few years. Prices of big-ticket items are sometimes estimated in mo'ai. Henua coins contain no precious metals; their value derives entirely from the country's store of Japanese coin. For this reason Henua encourages Japanese tourists; they cause a net gain for the economy. The Panako (Bank) te Henua is responsible for regulating the currency (under direction from the Economic Advisorate in the Council of Advisors). The exchange rate between Japan and Henua went unchanged between 1890 and 1993, during which it was set at 4 pa'una = 6 lo (a 2:3 rate). The currency was revalued slightly in an effort to reduce inflation during a period of increasing tourism and demand for imports. During the Japanese Civil War (1942-1951), Japan's currency collapsed. The Austronesian League helped Henua out so that it could meaintain a stable economy during these turbulant years. The actual amount of Henua money in circulation at that point was very small, anyway. |