References
159
a sequence of inter-archipelago migrations. For attaining speed, managing sail had
become as important as or more important than exploiting currents. But exploiting
currents must still have been important in tropical Polynesia. The changes in the
direction of trade winds and currents in the central and eastern Pacific, induced by
strong ENSO events, are believed to have assisted west–east migration and trading
ventures.
As we shall see in Part II, the great voyaging and migrational activity in tropical
Polynesia during the Medieval Climatic Optimum was driven largely by El Niñoinduced drought and famine and/or associated conflict over land and resources.
But the warm global climate favoured voyaging in this period as it had done in
the preceding period of Polynesian exploration from about AD 650 to 1100. The
development of specialized canoes to meet the upsurge in activity in the Medieval
Climatic Optimum reflects denser settlement patterns, increased levels of migration
and more specialized sailing requirements within Eastern Polynesia.
Starvation and conflict in the Medieval Climatic Optimum drove Eastern
Polynesian migrations as far south as New Zealand. There can be little doubt as
to the capability of the Eastern Polynesian double-canoes for handling the distances
involved and little doubt as to the skills of the navigators who sailed them. The
navigators who led the Heke, the last migration fleet to reach New Zealand before
the Little Ice Age, were able to exploit wind power so effectively that, tradition
reports, the Takitimu because of bad weather took 11 days to reach New Zealand
from Rarotonga, though the journey was expected to take only 9! [5].
References
1. Kipppis A (1788) The life of Captain James Cook. Printed by J Tourneisen, Basil [Basle],
pp. 96–97
2. Finney B (1994) Voyage of rediscovery, a cultural odyssey through Polynesia. University of
California Press, Berkeley, CA, p. 129
3. Anderson A (2000) Slow boats to China: issues in the prehistory of Indo-Pacific seafaring. In
O’Connor S, Veth P (eds.) East of Wallace’s Line, Studies of Past and present maritime cultures
of the Indo-Pacific region. Mod Quat Res in Southeast Asia, 16: 13–50, 36
4. Finney B (1967) New perspectives on Polynesian voyaging. In: Highland G, Force R et al. (eds.)
Polynesian culture history: essays in honor of Kenneth Emory. BP Bishop Museum Special
essays in honor of Kenneth Emory. BP Bishop Museum Special: Publication 56: 141–166.
Honolulu: Bishop Museum
5. Mitchell J (1972) Takitimu, a history of the Ngati Kahungunu people. Southern Reprints, AH
and AW Reed, Wellington, p. 40
159
a sequence of inter-archipelago migrations. For attaining speed, managing sail had
become as important as or more important than exploiting currents. But exploiting
currents must still have been important in tropical Polynesia. The changes in the
direction of trade winds and currents in the central and eastern Pacific, induced by
strong ENSO events, are believed to have assisted west–east migration and trading
ventures.
As we shall see in Part II, the great voyaging and migrational activity in tropical
Polynesia during the Medieval Climatic Optimum was driven largely by El Niñoinduced drought and famine and/or associated conflict over land and resources.
But the warm global climate favoured voyaging in this period as it had done in
the preceding period of Polynesian exploration from about AD 650 to 1100. The
development of specialized canoes to meet the upsurge in activity in the Medieval
Climatic Optimum reflects denser settlement patterns, increased levels of migration
and more specialized sailing requirements within Eastern Polynesia.
Starvation and conflict in the Medieval Climatic Optimum drove Eastern
Polynesian migrations as far south as New Zealand. There can be little doubt as
to the capability of the Eastern Polynesian double-canoes for handling the distances
involved and little doubt as to the skills of the navigators who sailed them. The
navigators who led the Heke, the last migration fleet to reach New Zealand before
the Little Ice Age, were able to exploit wind power so effectively that, tradition
reports, the Takitimu because of bad weather took 11 days to reach New Zealand
from Rarotonga, though the journey was expected to take only 9! [5].
References
1. Kipppis A (1788) The life of Captain James Cook. Printed by J Tourneisen, Basil [Basle],
pp. 96–97
2. Finney B (1994) Voyage of rediscovery, a cultural odyssey through Polynesia. University of
California Press, Berkeley, CA, p. 129
3. Anderson A (2000) Slow boats to China: issues in the prehistory of Indo-Pacific seafaring. In
O’Connor S, Veth P (eds.) East of Wallace’s Line, Studies of Past and present maritime cultures
of the Indo-Pacific region. Mod Quat Res in Southeast Asia, 16: 13–50, 36
4. Finney B (1967) New perspectives on Polynesian voyaging. In: Highland G, Force R et al. (eds.)
Polynesian culture history: essays in honor of Kenneth Emory. BP Bishop Museum Special
essays in honor of Kenneth Emory. BP Bishop Museum Special: Publication 56: 141–166.
Honolulu: Bishop Museum
5. Mitchell J (1972) Takitimu, a history of the Ngati Kahungunu people. Southern Reprints, AH
and AW Reed, Wellington, p. 40