90
5 Transoceanic Trade and Migration (2)
waters beyond its margins. It is hardly surprising, then, that the earliest evidence for
oceanic exploration and migration comes from Palau within the WPWP about 5,700
years ago. This evidence predates by 2,000 years the evidence for migrations from
the Spice Island region to the Bismarcks and to Madagascar.
But the dating evidence for a possible first-wave Spice Island colony in southern
Japan is elusive. We can speculatively tie it to the earliest evidence for the colonization of Palau and to the dating for the post-flood volcanic heating of the WPWP
some time between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago. We can retrospectively suggest that
there was a logical progression from the establishment of an earlier long-distance
oceanic spice-trading route following a major current to southern Japan through the
volcanically heated waters of the WPWP to the later establishment of an oceanic
spice-trading route to east Africa through the colder Indian Ocean following another
major WPWP current. And we can argue that the evolution of the double-outrigger,
able to exploit both fast warm currents and wind power, was more important for
meeting the needs of a trading route to Japan than it was for sailing the Cinnamon
Route which could exploit a clockwise current loop. That is, we can argue on circumstantial grounds that the development of the double-outrigger and the evolution
of skills involved in adopting the sailing strategy of following fast currents over long
distances would most naturally have occurred first within the WPWP following its
volcanic heating and that this would have led naturally to the establishment of an
early oceanic spice-trading route to Japan.
The advantages of opening up a fast oceanic trading route to Japan through the
WPWP close to 6,000 years ago are obvious. Not only would it have opened up
a market for spices in Japan and perhaps in Korea but it may also have provided
new opportunities for trading with Asia from a Japanese base following the drowning of vast areas of the eastern coast of China in the last Ice Age flood and the
probable destruction of earlier coastal trading arrangements. We have seen how,
analogously, perhaps 2,500 years later, the creation of the Cinnamon Route opened
up a faster oceanic trading route through the Indian Ocean. It gave Spice Islanders,
at a time of sharpened demand for their spices, the opportunity to establish a new
fast means of access to the markets of the Middle East and Europe via the east coast
of Africa.
We suggest that the motivation for the early colonization of Palau was most probably to create a rest and supply station for a spice trading route to Japan, just as the
colonization of Madagascar may have been at least partly to provide a rest and supply stop on the Cinnamon Route. There is a clear differentiation, however, in terms
of the maritime capability that this analogy suggests. The need for a rest stop in
Palau only 900 km from Halmahera suggests an oceanic range far inferior to the
4,000 or so kilometres capably sailed between Christmas Island and Madagascar on
the Cinnamon Route. The implication is that a Spice Island trading route to Japan
via Palau would have been established very much earlier than the Cinnamon Route
to east Africa via Madagascar. And the fact that the Cinnamon Route was sailed
in winter through a cold ocean, unsupported by the volcanically elevated SSTs that
would have supported an early oceanic trading route to Japan through the WPWP,
supports this implication of a greatly enhanced Spice Island maritime capability and
5 Transoceanic Trade and Migration (2)
waters beyond its margins. It is hardly surprising, then, that the earliest evidence for
oceanic exploration and migration comes from Palau within the WPWP about 5,700
years ago. This evidence predates by 2,000 years the evidence for migrations from
the Spice Island region to the Bismarcks and to Madagascar.
But the dating evidence for a possible first-wave Spice Island colony in southern
Japan is elusive. We can speculatively tie it to the earliest evidence for the colonization of Palau and to the dating for the post-flood volcanic heating of the WPWP
some time between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago. We can retrospectively suggest that
there was a logical progression from the establishment of an earlier long-distance
oceanic spice-trading route following a major current to southern Japan through the
volcanically heated waters of the WPWP to the later establishment of an oceanic
spice-trading route to east Africa through the colder Indian Ocean following another
major WPWP current. And we can argue that the evolution of the double-outrigger,
able to exploit both fast warm currents and wind power, was more important for
meeting the needs of a trading route to Japan than it was for sailing the Cinnamon
Route which could exploit a clockwise current loop. That is, we can argue on circumstantial grounds that the development of the double-outrigger and the evolution
of skills involved in adopting the sailing strategy of following fast currents over long
distances would most naturally have occurred first within the WPWP following its
volcanic heating and that this would have led naturally to the establishment of an
early oceanic spice-trading route to Japan.
The advantages of opening up a fast oceanic trading route to Japan through the
WPWP close to 6,000 years ago are obvious. Not only would it have opened up
a market for spices in Japan and perhaps in Korea but it may also have provided
new opportunities for trading with Asia from a Japanese base following the drowning of vast areas of the eastern coast of China in the last Ice Age flood and the
probable destruction of earlier coastal trading arrangements. We have seen how,
analogously, perhaps 2,500 years later, the creation of the Cinnamon Route opened
up a faster oceanic trading route through the Indian Ocean. It gave Spice Islanders,
at a time of sharpened demand for their spices, the opportunity to establish a new
fast means of access to the markets of the Middle East and Europe via the east coast
of Africa.
We suggest that the motivation for the early colonization of Palau was most probably to create a rest and supply station for a spice trading route to Japan, just as the
colonization of Madagascar may have been at least partly to provide a rest and supply stop on the Cinnamon Route. There is a clear differentiation, however, in terms
of the maritime capability that this analogy suggests. The need for a rest stop in
Palau only 900 km from Halmahera suggests an oceanic range far inferior to the
4,000 or so kilometres capably sailed between Christmas Island and Madagascar on
the Cinnamon Route. The implication is that a Spice Island trading route to Japan
via Palau would have been established very much earlier than the Cinnamon Route
to east Africa via Madagascar. And the fact that the Cinnamon Route was sailed
in winter through a cold ocean, unsupported by the volcanically elevated SSTs that
would have supported an early oceanic trading route to Japan through the WPWP,
supports this implication of a greatly enhanced Spice Island maritime capability and