Given our ancestors didn’t know where they were going it was impressive enough when they found land. They certainly did not get to China or India like they intended.
The ancient Polynesians navigated their canoes by the stars and other signs that came from the ocean and sky. Navigation was a precise science, a learned art that was passed on verbally from one navigator to another for countless generations.
In 1768, as he sailed from Tahiti, Captain Cook had an additional passenger on board his ship, a Tahitian navigator named Tupaia. Tupaia guided Cook 300 miles south to Rurutu, a small Polynesian island, proving he could navigate from his homeland to a distant island. Cook was amazed to find that Tupaia could always point in the exact direction in which Tahiti lay, without the use of the ship’s charts. Sadly, Cook was never able to learn and document Tupaia’s navigational techniques, for Tupaia, and many of Cook’s crew, died of malaria in the Dutch East Indies. Unlike later visitors to the South Pacific, Cook understood that Polynesian navigators could guide canoes across the Pacific over great distances.
Kwen almost 3 years ago
According to the “came back home safely” ratio, I’ll still keep my GPS, thank you very much.
theincrediblebulk almost 3 years ago
Given our ancestors didn’t know where they were going it was impressive enough when they found land. They certainly did not get to China or India like they intended.
MuddyUSA Premium Member almost 3 years ago
I don’t trust those GPS’s……I really do!
cuzinron47 almost 3 years ago
Well, there’s no stars out.
Jim Kerner almost 3 years ago
. Excuse me Tregg. But, aren’t you riding, SHOT GUN?
gcottay almost 3 years ago
So navigate.
briangj2 almost 3 years ago
The ancient Polynesians navigated their canoes by the stars and other signs that came from the ocean and sky. Navigation was a precise science, a learned art that was passed on verbally from one navigator to another for countless generations.
In 1768, as he sailed from Tahiti, Captain Cook had an additional passenger on board his ship, a Tahitian navigator named Tupaia. Tupaia guided Cook 300 miles south to Rurutu, a small Polynesian island, proving he could navigate from his homeland to a distant island. Cook was amazed to find that Tupaia could always point in the exact direction in which Tahiti lay, without the use of the ship’s charts. Sadly, Cook was never able to learn and document Tupaia’s navigational techniques, for Tupaia, and many of Cook’s crew, died of malaria in the Dutch East Indies. Unlike later visitors to the South Pacific, Cook understood that Polynesian navigators could guide canoes across the Pacific over great distances.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/polynesia-genius-navigators/