How ancient voyagers settled the far-flung islands of the Pacific

Marveling at the ubiquity of this Pacific language and culture, Captain James Cook later wondered in his journal: "How shall we account for this Nation spreading it self so far over this Vast ocean?"

[heartless]

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Brings to mind, Thor Heyerdahl; Polynesia And America, A Study In Prehistoric Relations, AKU-AKU, KON-TIKI, and later, THE RA EXPEDITIONS.

We are a mobile lot.

Explore...

[Billy Jack]

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Beautiful detective story of an exciting time and place in a voyage to discover their world. And the final line: They went because they wanted to see what was over the horizon...Got my foot itching since I was were there in a giant steel can. Makes me want to put outriggers on my canoe and head out to find the world and its strange and wonderous peoples.............

[legs4miles]

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I've traced my lineage back six generations in the US to African, Native American, middle Asian, and European decent. I always wondered what racial group I would have belonged to if the Europeans had not "discovered my peoples", assimulated us (via domination, exploitation, education and marriage). Would I be hopelessly lost. Or would I be blissfully ignorant of the pain caused by the strife and conflict of competing cultures. Maybe my genetic code didn't need all that Darwinian pressure put on it. All that "survival of the fittest" jazz. I do note that I am from a long line of highly vocal, tall and attractive women (this could have been a complication for my matrons).

I wonder how all that raping, pillaging and plundering has affected my base nature. I wonder how much richer human society would be as a whole with a greater continuity of collective unbroken history.

Captain, James Cook is the perfect example of the Europians represented in my family tree. And he continues to this day to be quoted as an authoritative observer of cultures foreign to the West in his lifetime. WOW WTF is going on today for this to be happening!? Please someone explain?

[yukyuk99]

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Wow! What an informative story! "How ancient voyagers settled the far-flung islands of the Pacific" was the title, but the story didn't even bother to answer the question!

[Vox]

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One study I remember noted that the Polynesians navigated by the stars; perfectly believable.
One of their methods, so it was inferred, was to travel to a "line of position," deliberately missing to one side of where the destination was. When they arreive at their "line of position," noted by referance to the stars, they would turn, and as it was to locat Hawaii, they would turn North.
This makes a good deal of sense.
In time I am sure we will know more....
Good story...

[Johnson]

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Those must have been some amazing people, those Lapitas and Polynesians.That's really an amazing idea, to just set off in a large sailing canoe like an ocean gypsy looking for an island to settle and call your own with no governments or taxing bodies or pollution there.

[maddog]

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good story cash

[Gods Warrior]

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legs4miles wrote:

I've traced my lineage back six generations in the US to African, Native American, middle Asian, and European decent. I always wondered what racial group I would have belonged to if the Europeans had not "discovered my peoples", assimulated us (via domination, exploitation, education and marriage). Would I be hopelessly lost. Or would I be blissfully ignorant of the pain caused by the strife and conflict of competing cultures. Maybe my genetic code didn't need all that Darwinian pressure put on it. All that "survival of the fittest" jazz. I do note that I am from a long line of highly vocal, tall and attractive women (this could have been a complication for my matrons).
I wonder how all that raping, pillaging and plundering has affected my base nature. I wonder how much richer human society would be as a whole with a greater continuity of collective unbroken history.
Captain, James Cook is the perfect example of the Europians represented in my family tree. And he continues to this day to be quoted as an authoritative observer of cultures foreign to the West in his lifetime. WOW WTF is going on today for this to be happening!? Please someone explain?

What a wonderful and thought provoking post.

[formally abducted]

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Question from captain cook's journal,'how shall we account for this nation spreading itself so far over this vast ocean?'. maybe boats????????

[Cash]

formally abducted wrote:

Question from captain cook's journal,'how shall we account for this nation spreading itself so far over this vast ocean?'. maybe boats????????

But he had trouble doing it in a 3 master 2500 years after they did it with canoes - or at least we think they were canoes. These were supposedly Neolithic stone age people.

It's pretty impressive.