Historians believe that Pacific Islanders explored
the entire South Pacific region well before the
era of recorded history. Around 2500 B.C., historians
speculate, Southeast Asians began to migrate throughout
the Pacific. By the eighth century A.D., the Polynesians
had crossed 15 million miles of unknown ocean
and colonized every habitable island in a huge
triangle bound by Hawaii on the north, New Zealand
in the southwest, and Easter Island to the east.
Sturdy outrigger canoes could have been used to
bring large numbers of people and trading items
across rough seas from island to island.
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These 100-foot-long,
10-ton canoes were navigated by men who were
taught from childhood to decipher nautical
information from star positions, ocean currents,
wave echoes, prevailing winds, and the habits
of migratory birds. It has been said that
the Polynesian navigators were so well trained
that they could smell land and see the green
reflection of forests on the underside of
clouds. |
