Polynesia

Polynesia (from Greek, poly = many and nesos = island) is a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean.

Maritime development

At a time when European sailors were navigating by keeping a watch for the shoreline in daylight, Polynesians were navigating a vast extent of the Pacific Ocean. Polynesia comprised islands diffused throughout a triangular area with sides of four thousand miles. The area from the Hawaiian Islands, east to Easter Island, and west to New Zealand was all settled by one people, of a single culture and language. They employed a whole range of navigational techniques, including use of the stars, the movement of ocean currents and wave patterns, the air and sea interference patterns caused by islands and atolls, the flight of birds, the winds, and weather.

Related Topics:
European - Sailors - Navigating - Pacific Ocean - Atoll

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is theorized that the original Polynesian migration followed the seasonal paths of birds. Not only does their oral tradition place importance on the flight of birds, but there are also range marks on shore pointing to distant islands in line with these flyways. The route used from Tahiti to New Zealand follows the migration of the Long-tailed Koel, just as the voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii matches the track of the Pacific Golden Plover and the Bristle-thighed Curlew. It is also known that Polynesians employed shore-sighting birds as did many seafaring peoples. They would commonly take with them one of the Frigatebirds. These birds refuse to land on the water as their feathers will become waterlogged, making it impossible to fly. When the Polynesians thought they were close to land they would release this bird which would dependably fly towards land or else return to the boat.

Related Topics:
Birds - Flyways - Long-tailed Koel - Pacific Golden Plover - Bristle-thighed Curlew - Frigatebirds

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Polynesians were the first people to develop navigating by the stars into a fine art. They used a thirty-two point pelorus, also called a dummy compass, which they probably adopted from the Arabs before they colonized into the Pacific from India. The pelorus was marked for stars which rose and set at nearly equally spaced points on the horizon. The Polynesians imagined the heavens as the interior of a dome where a star proceeded along a path which passed over certain islands. They knew over a hundred and fifty stars. Each star was given a name and it was known where and when it rose and set, as well as which islands it passed over. Thus Polynesian navigators were able to sail toward the star they knew to be over their destination temporarily and as it moved westward with time they would then steer towards the succeeding star which would have then moved over the target island. The Polynesians, with the pelorus and their impressive knowledge, were able follow the shortest route over thousands of miles without any further instrumentation or charts. In fact, as they steered for such a star they actually were following the great circle to their destination. This method is in principle more perfect than compass navigation.

Related Topics:
Pelorus - Great circle - Compass

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Polynesians also used wave and swell formations to navigate. They learned the effect various islands had on their shape, direction, and motion and were able to recognize them as landmarks. This was greatly important as the depth of the Pacific made soundings useless. They also were able to locate islands by certain cloud formations as well as the reflections shallow water made on the undersides of clouds. Since the Polynesians did not draw charts, they had no words for absolute measures of distance. Instead, they measured the time it took to sail between the islands in "canoe-days."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~