View source for Binoka

{{Short description|Gilbertese high chief (d. after 1912)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
[[File:BinokaAndBauro.png|thumb|Binoka and his adopted son, Bauro, photographed by [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] in 1889]]
'''Binoka''' (died 10 November 1891) was the third ''uea'' ("[[monarch]]") of [[Apamama|Abemama]]. He controlled the [[Gilbert Islands]] of Abemama, [[Aranuka]], and [[Kuria (islands)|Kuria]] from 1878 until his death in 1891. The writer [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] featured Binoka, who he called '''Tembinok'''',{{Efn|A corruption of Tem Binoka, ''Tem'' being a male prefix in the [[Gilbertese language]],{{Sfn|Maude|1970|page=203}} His wife, [[Fanny Stevenson]], spelled it '''Tembinoka''' in her diary.{{Sfn|Stevenson|2016|page=vi}}}} in the pages of ''In The South Seas'' (1896) after the ''uea'' hosted his party on Abemama for nine months.
Contemporary accounts depicted Binoka as an oft-oppressive [[Autocracy|autocrat]] who derived his wealth from [[copra]], maintained a trade monopoly with the Europeans, and hoarded foreign items. He harboured ambitions to conquer the Gilbert Islands, but they never materialized. Binoka is said to be the last independent [[Gilbertese people|Gilbertese]] ruler. The year after he died, Captain [[Edward H. M. Davis|Edward Davis]] moored at Abemama to proclaim the Gilbert Islands a [[British protectorate]].
== Background ==
Binoka was part of a [[Gilbert Islands]] [[dynasty]] that, according to [[oral tradition]], had ruled [[Abemama]] for five to seven generations before him. It also conquered the nearby islands of [[Kuria (atoll)|Kuria]] and [[Aranuka]]. His father, [[Baiteke]], was the second member to hold the title of ''uea'', which was used by other islands for their own [[Hereditary monarchy|hereditary monarchs]]. In Baiteke's time, foreign traders, whalers, [[Beachcombing|beachcombers]], and missionaries, mainly from Europe, were increasing their presence and control on the Gilbert Islands. Baiteke was one of the last independent rulers there. He responded in 1851 by ordering the executions of every non-Indigenous person living on the three islands. Then, Baiteke closed his borders and established a [[monopoly]] on foreign trade, which he limited to one port. He mainly [[Barter|bartered]] off [[coconut oil]] or [[copra]]. Thus, Baiteke became his realm's only supplier of foreign goods, including firearms and cannons, which he used to solidify his [[Autocracy|autocratic]] reign. It was this power Binoka, his son, would inherit.
== Early life ==
Binoka was probably born around the 1840s.{{Sfnm|1y=1995|1p=70|2a=|2y=1990|2p=30|1a1=Uriam|2a1=Crowley}} He had a younger brother, Timon ({{IPA|en|sɪmɔn}}), and two sisters. Binoka was raised in privilege by his father's female [[Royal consort|consorts]] and "palace favourites". He practiced using firearms and became a fair marksman.
In 1878, Baiteke [[Abdication|abdicated]], as was customary at  his age, in favour of Binoka.{{Sfn|Maude|1970|p=212}}
== Robert Louis Stevenson's account of Binoka ==
[[File:Flag of the Kingdom of Abemama (April 1884-June 1884).svg|thumb|Recreation of Binoka's flag. He was forced to remove one of the stars after the British seized [[Nonouti]]]]
Binoka was the last truly independent and influential king of parts of the Gilbert Islands, at a time when the Gilberts were being increasingly influenced by white settlers and traders. Binoka resided on [[Abemama]], and, unlike the rulers of neighbouring islands, did not allow outsiders to establish a permanent presence there. Binoka controlled access to the [[atolls]] under his control and jealously guarded his revenue and his prerogatives as monarch.  He briefly accepted the presence on [[Abemama]] of Tuppoti, a Christian [[missionary]], then deported him for attempting to set up a [[copra]] trading business.
In 1888, he granted [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], [[Fanny Van de Grift|Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson]] and [[Lloyd Osbourne]] the right to live temporarily on [[Abemama]], on the condition that they did not give or sell money, liquor or tobacco to his subjects.<ref name="RLSISS">{{cite book |author=Robert Louis Stevenson |title=In the South Seas, Part V, Chapter 1 |publisher=Chatto & Windus; republished by The Hogarth Press |year=1896}}</ref> They returned to [[Abemama]] in July 1890 during their cruise on the trading steamer the ''Janet Nicoll''.<ref>Fanny Stevenson incorrectly names the ship in  ''The Cruise of the Janet Nichol among the South Sea Islands'' A Diary by Mrs Robert Louis Stevenson (first published 1914), republished 2004, editor, Roslyn Jolly (U. of Washington Press/U. of New South Wales Press)</ref>
Binoka was immortalised by [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s description of him in his book ''In the South Seas''. Stevenson spent two months on [[Abemama]] in 1889. Stevenson described Binoka as the "one great personage in the Gilberts …  and the last tyrant".<ref name="RLSISS" /> Stevenson described the ambitions of Binoka as an embryonic "empire of the archipelago" and established his importance in the Gilbert Islands as "Binoka figures in the patriotic war-songs of the Gilberts like [[Napoleon]] in those of our grandfathers."<ref name="RLSISS" />
Stevenson describes Binoka, in years before his visit, as attempting to extend his rule over a number of islands and atolls; he compelled [[Maiana]] to pay tribute, and seized [[Nonouti]], before being driven out by a British warship and being forbidden to expand his kingdom further.<ref name="RLSISS"/> Stevenson does not date these events. At this time [[Royal Navy]] ships served on the [[Australia Station]], and operated in the South Pacific.
==Binoka—the merchant king==
Binoka owned trade ships which would travel to Australia and [[New Zealand]]. His commercial ventures, however, ended in failure with the loss of his ship the ''Coronet''.<ref name="RLSISS"/><ref name="ARMII">{{cite web| last =  Resture | first = Jane| title = The Alfred Restieaux Manuscript Part II|url= http://www.janeresture.com/ar3.htm | access-date=6 August 2011}}</ref>
He found a Scotsman, George McGhee Murdoch, who organized production and marketing on Binoka's several thousand acres of heritable land. Murdoch also maintained good relationships with the [[New Bedford]] whalers who used Abemama as a base, and he persuaded Binoka to allow Stevenson's party to settle ashore.<ref>A Pattern of Islands. Arthur Grimble. The Reprint Society, by arrangement with John Murray (publishers) Ltd., 1954. First published 1952. Pages 224-228</ref> George Murdoch did not reveal Binoka’s murderous habits to Stephenson - Binoka would shoot his own subjects down from tree-tops for the amusement of watching them fall sprawling - and Stevenson did not name Murdoch in his book.<ref>A Pattern of Islands. Arthur Grimble. The Reprint Society, by arrangement with John Murray (publishers) Ltd., 1954. First published 1952. Pages 224-228</ref>
Binoka was also a merchant king, controlling his kingdom's commerce.<ref>[http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/states/oceania/abemama.html Genealogy]</ref> He enforced the allocation of produce; such that the [[taro]] went to the chiefs of each village to allocate among their various subjects; certain fish and turtles and the whole of the produce of the coco-palm, the source of [[copra]] belonged to Binoka. He would trade the [[copra]] with visiting trading ships. He was, according to Stevenson:
:greedy of things new and foreign. House after house, chest after chest, in the palace precinct, is already crammed with clocks, musical boxes, blue spectacles, umbrellas, knitted waistcoats, bolts of stuff, tools, rifles, fowling-pieces, medicines, European foods, sewing-machines, and, what is more extraordinary, stoves.<ref name="RLSISS"/>
While the captains and [[supercargo]]s of trading ships could expect to sell such novelties at a great profit, Binoka controlled access to his islands and would refuse to deal with those whom he considered to take advantage of him. Stevenson describes Binoka as classing captains and supercargoes in three categories:  "He cheat a little"—"He cheat plenty"—and "I think he cheat too much”.<ref name="RLSISS"/>
Binoka gave his many wives a share of the [[copra]], which they would use to trade for hats, ribbons, dresses and other produce available on the trading ships.  However sticks of tobacco were the main product they purchased, which Stevenson described as being "island currency, tantamount to minted gold".<ref name="RLSISS"/> Stevenson described a notable feature of life with Binoka as being that evenings were spent with Binoka playing card games with his wives with the currency being tobacco sticks.  He had developed his own version of poker in which he could play either of two hands dealt to him. By this strategy Binoka would win most of the tobacco, so that Binoka ended up with effective control of the tobacco, which he would allocate to his wives and other subjects, so that he was, as described by Stevenson "the sole fount of all indulgences".<ref>''In the South Seas'', Part V, Ch. 2</ref>
While Stevenson refers to Binoka as "the last tyrant",<ref name="RLSISS"/> Stevenson's account of his time with Binoka is much more sympathetic that given to Nakaeia, the ruler of [[Butaritari]] and [[Makin (islands)|Makin]] [[atolls]] in the [[Kiribati|Gilbert Islands]]. Nakaeia allowed two San Francisco trading firms to operate, Messrs. Crawford and Messrs. Wightman Brothers, with up to 12 Europeans resident on various of the [[atolls]]. The presence of the Europeans, and the alcohol they traded to the islanders, resulted in periodic alcoholic binges that only ended with Nakaeia making tapu (forbidding) the sale of alcohol. During the 15 or so days Stevenson spent on [[Butaritari]] the islanders were engaged in a drunken spree that threatened the safety of Stevenson and his family. Stevenson adopted the strategy of describing himself as the son of [[Queen Victoria]] so as to ensure that he would be treated as a person who should not be threatened or harmed.<ref>''In the South Seas'', Part IV</ref>
In 1876 Britain and Germany [[Anglo-German Declarations about the Western Pacific Ocean|agreed to divide up]] their interests in the western and central Pacific, with each claiming a 'sphere of influence'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_between_Great_Britain_and_Germany_relating_to_the_Demarcation_of_the_Spheres_of_Influence |title=Declaration between the Governments of Great Britain and the German Empire relating to the Demarcation of the British and German Spheres of Influence in the Western Pacific, signed at Berlin, April 6, 1886|year=1886 |access-date=22 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="TAHNPT">{{cite book |first1=Noatia P. |last1=Teo |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Larcy |title=Tuvalu: A History|year= 1983 |publisher= University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu|pages=127–139|chapter= Chapter 17, Colonial Rule }}</ref> In 1877 the Governor of Fiji was given the additional title of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. The British 'sphere of influence' included the Ellice Islands and the Gilbert Islands, but it made little difference to the governance of these islands until after Binoka's death.<ref name="TAHNPT"/>
Murdoch is reported as saying that "I ordered myself a belt with a big crown on the buckle, and I stuck another crown in front of my helmet. Solid silver, they were. I told him the Queen herself had sent them to me for a present. Whenever a new law came out, I invented a special message from the Queen requesting his ''pair''sonal collaboration in the matter. He was impressed and pleased. I made a by-ordinary good citizen of the old reprobate before he died."<ref>A Pattern of Islands. Arthur Grimble. The Reprint Society, by arrangement with John Murray (publishers) Ltd., 1954. First published 1952. Pages 224-228</ref>
Binoka died from an infected [[abscess]] on 10 November 1891.{{Sfn|Maude|1970|p=223}} In 2014, Don, a descendant of Binoka, said that he died of [[syphilis]], brought to Abemama by the whalers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arkus |first=Mike |date=January 29, 2014 |title=5 Storied Isles of the South Pacific: Going Literary on the Looney Front |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/five-storied-isles-of-the_b_4166738 |access-date=18 July 2024 |website=[[HuffPost]]}}</ref> He was succeeded as ''uea'' by his adopted son, Bauro. Timon acted as [[regent]] until Bauro [[Coming of age|came of age]] and reigned briefly and uneventfully.{{Sfn|Roberts|1953|p=274}}
The year after Binoka's death, Captain [[Edward H. M. Davis|Edward Davis]] moored at Abemama to proclaim the Gilbert Islands a [[British protectorate]]. Murdoch became the District Agent and Tax Collector, setting up local courts and administration that brought peace and order to the lagoon villages and controlled (often with strong measures) the European [[Beachcombing|beachcomber]]s; he retired as a Resident Commissioner in 1912.
==Ancestry==
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|1= 1. '''Tem Binoka'''
|2= 2. Tem Baiteke
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|4= 4. Tem Karotu
|5= 5. Nei Teaa
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|17= 17. Nei Beiarung
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==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
* {{cite journal |author=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=1990 |title=King Binoka of Abemama and the Pacific Pidgin lineage |url=https://nzlingsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Crowley-1990.pdf |journal=Te Reo |publisher=Linguistic Society of New Zealand |volume=33 |issue=1900 |pages=25–42}}
* {{Cite book |last=Maude |first=H. E. |author-link=Henry Evans Maude |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/114784 |title=Pacific Islands Portraits |publisher=[[ANU Press]] |year=1970 |isbn=0708101666 |editor-last=Davidson |editor-first=J. W. |editor-link=James Wightman Davidson |location=Canberra |chapter=Baiteke and Binoka of Abemama: Arbiters of change in the Gilbert Islands |editor-last2=Scarr |editor-first2=Deryck}}
* {{cite journal |author=Roberts |first=R. G. |year=1953 |title=The Dynasty of Abemama |url= |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |publisher=[[Polynesian Society]] |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=267–278 |jstor=20703382}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Fanny |author-link=Fanny Stevenson |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52528 |title=The Cruise of the Janet Nichol among the South Sea Islands |publication-date=2016 |language=en |orig-date=1914 |via=[[Project Gutenburg]]}}
* {{cite book |author=Stevenson |first=Robert Louis |author-link=Robert Louis Stevenson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3oRf2l6JU8C |title=In the South Seas |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] |year=1896}}
* {{Cite book |last=Uriam |first=Kambati K. |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/items/e0752718-2b70-45ba-85ba-192fc115c1f4 |title=In Their Own Words: History and Society in Gilbertese Oral Tradition |publisher=The Journal of Pacific History |year=1995 |isbn=0959547770 |location=[[Australian National University]] |language=en}}
== Further reading ==
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/literary-notes-a-long-way-from-treasure-island-1183775.html "Literary Notes: A long way from Treasure Island"], Neil Rennie, ''The Independent'', 9 November 1998
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[[Category:I-Kiribati people]]
[[Category:Tribal chiefs]]
[[Category:People from the Gilbert Islands]]
[[Category:19th-century Oceanian people]]
[[Category:19th-century monarchs in Oceania]]