Polynesian Exploration: How Far Did They Really Go

1272 Words6 Pages
Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Intro 2 Background Info 2 Tools Discovered 3 Sweet Potatoes 3 Chickens 4 Conclusion 5 Works Cited 6 Polynesian Exploration: How Far Did They Really Go Intro It is known that the indigenous people of the Polynesian islands were well versed in oceanic travels. There is no denying that these people used ships to sail between the various island chains of Hawaii and Tahiti. It is not fully known if they were able to explore past these chains. However, is there new evidence that may suggest that the Polynesians had sailed as far as South America, and before the Spanish set foot ashore. Background Info Captain James Cook anchored off the east coast of Poverty Bay in October of 1769 (Flude, 2001). He spent about six months in what he called the “bay of islands” (Flude, 2001). James Cook was the first European explorer to gain an insight for the “hostile” (Flude, 2001), as labeled by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, indigenous people. However, James Cook was lucky enough to receive guidance from a “learned Tahitian” (PBS), Tupa’ia. Cook was also learned the basics of the language, and was able to ask about how the locals controlled the canoes and places they had explored with them (PBS). Tupa’ia helped to answer Cook’s question of how the canoes were navigated, and where they had been. Cook learned that “the Tahitians had a "compass" provided by the sun, moon and stars and that they used this to orient themselves at sea” (PBS). With the newly discovered information James Cook believed that it was most plausible to consider that the indigenous people settled the Polynesian region on their own, with no help from European explorers. Cook, having landing on the shores of Hawaii, and seeing the native people of the island, purposed that they to where descendants of the Tahitians. Unfortunately, Cook died before he could
Open Document