Violence and Warfare in Precontact Melanesia

Abstract EN

Levels of interpersonal violence and warfare for 30 Melanesian societies at the time of contact with Europeans are estimated based on ethnographic and historical records.

While violence was common in indigenous Melanesia, it was not ubiquitous and some societies experienced extended periods of internal and external peace.

Interpersonal violence and warfare were correlated-when one occurred there was a high probability of finding the other.

Violence was not dependent on total population.

It was, however, higher for population density greater than 50 persons per square kilometer.

Violence in Melanesia may have been stimulated by the large number of relatively small polities, many of which competed with one another for prestige and, in some cases, land.