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The civilian population, culture and infrastructure of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (Pacific Islands) were completely changed between 1941 and 1945 because of the logistical requirements of the Allies in their war against Japan (taemfaet and daidowa in Micronesian or sahaya kana tuta in Melanesian).[1][2] At the start of the war some of the islands had experienced up to 200 years of colonialism from Europe and its colonies, some on the verge of being fully annexed, others close to independence. The early Japanese expansion through the western Pacific then introduced a new colonial system to many islands. The Japanese occupation subjected the indigenous people of Guam and other Pacific Islands to forced labor, family separation, incarceration, execution, concentration camps, and forced prostitution.[3][4]
The Pacific Islands then experienced military action, massive troop movements, and limited resource extraction and building projects as the Allies pushed the Japanese back to their home islands.[5] The juxtaposition of all these cultures led to a new understanding among the indigenous Pacific Islanders of their relationship with the colonial powers.
- ^ Williamson Murray, Allan R. Millett, A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War, Harvard University Press, 2001, p. 143
- ^ White et al 1989, p. 3.
- ^ Werner Gruhl, Imperial Japan's World War Two, 1931–1945 Archived January 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Transaction Publishers, 2007 ISBN 978-0-7658-0352-8
- ^ Lindstrom et al 1990, p. 33.
- ^ Bennett 2009, p. 179.
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