Wogeo

Oceaniaother subsistence combinations
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expand_more Description

The Wogeo are Austronesian-speaking inhabitants of Vokeo Island off the north coast of Papua New Guinea. They live in small villages along the coast and practice slash and burn horticulture, complemented by fishing, gathering nuts, fruit and shellfish, hunting, and raising pigs. The Wogeo once built ocean-going canoes and traded with people living on neighboring islands and the mainland. Regular contact with Europeans did not begin until the late 1800s. Beginning in 1905 the Wogeo were recruited as laborers to work on plantations on the mainland. Wogeo society is divided into two exogamous matrilineal moieties and patrilineal clans. Clan and village headmen adjudicate disputes and presided over religious ceremonies.

Identifier
Region
  • Oceania
Subregion
  • Melanesia
Subsistence Type
  • other subsistence combinations
Samples
Countries
  • Papua New Guinea
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