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4 Transoceanic Trade and Migration (1)
New Zealand and Hawaii, we suggest, may have been to search for possible refuges
for his people in the case of their eventual defeat.
The pattern of defeat and enforced migration, perhaps anticipated by Maui, is
described in the Maori whare wananga traditions [3]. These traditions, for example,
tell of the early explorer, Tama-rereti who discovered Hawaii and led his own family
(sub-tribe) in a migration there. That the constellation of Scorpio was named in his
honour (Te Waka-o-Tama-rereti or the canoe of Tama-rereti) suggests the antiquity
of these events and the likelihood that Tama-rereti’s discovery of Hawaii belongs to
the first wave of exploration which ended in about 1000 BC. Perhaps 30 generations
later, in a time of strife and defeat, Tama-rereti’s sailing directions for reaching
Hawaii were remembered by his tribe now threatened with extinction. The defeated
tribe followed Tama-rereti’s instructions and reached Hawaii. Perhaps 400 years
after this, Irapanga, perhaps following the sailing instructions of his ancestor, Maui
the Navigator, is said to have led a colonizing fleet of six canoes which sailed north
from the Spice Islands through Micronesia towards Japan and then followed the
Kuro Shio Current that flowed beyond Japan east towards Hawaii. Tradition tells us
that Irapanga’s people landed and settled on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The whare wananga traditions record two ancient colonizations which probably took place within Island Southeast Asia: from an ancient homeland, Irihia, to
Tawhiti-roa (possibly Sumatra) and then from Tawhiti-roa to Tawhiti-nui (possibly
Borneo). These migrations were led by four chiefs in a fleet of seven canoes, following invasion and defeat by what are described as thin, lanky, black-skinned men.
The account draws attention to the vulnerability of new migrants in an already settled land. It describes the first task for such migrants to be the building of a pa, a
fort, for protection against attacks from the local inhabitants. In the whare wananga
account, following their arrival in Tawhiti-nui there was discussion by the four chiefs
as to what kind of pa to build:
Tawhito-rangi considered they should build a stone fort, whilst Tu-rongo-rau thought a
wooden [i.e. palisaded] one best, with three lines of defence. Tu-te-mahurangi and Mahurangi said that the best pa for them would be to ascend to the midst of a cliff and there
excavate a deep place, so that when they went forth to seek food for themselves, the pa of
the women and children could not be taken by any people who might come to assault it [4].
This account suggests how old the tradition of pa-building was and how vital
pa-building was for migrants arriving in low numbers and settling in an already peopled land. The attractiveness of migration to a distant uninhabited land or sparsely
inhabited land is obvious, despite the inherent risks of long-distance voyaging.
In both the whare wananga traditions and the oral traditions preserved in New
Zealand of Maui’s visit, invaders are described as lanky and black-skinned. The
description implies the Polynesians’ awareness of their own robust cold-adapted
body form and of their paler skin. It makes clear too that the invading tribes were
not cold-adapted and so would not have been able to trade the spices themselves over
long ocean distances. In the early centuries AD they presumably became suppliers
to foreign maritime traders.
4 Transoceanic Trade and Migration (1)
New Zealand and Hawaii, we suggest, may have been to search for possible refuges
for his people in the case of their eventual defeat.
The pattern of defeat and enforced migration, perhaps anticipated by Maui, is
described in the Maori whare wananga traditions [3]. These traditions, for example,
tell of the early explorer, Tama-rereti who discovered Hawaii and led his own family
(sub-tribe) in a migration there. That the constellation of Scorpio was named in his
honour (Te Waka-o-Tama-rereti or the canoe of Tama-rereti) suggests the antiquity
of these events and the likelihood that Tama-rereti’s discovery of Hawaii belongs to
the first wave of exploration which ended in about 1000 BC. Perhaps 30 generations
later, in a time of strife and defeat, Tama-rereti’s sailing directions for reaching
Hawaii were remembered by his tribe now threatened with extinction. The defeated
tribe followed Tama-rereti’s instructions and reached Hawaii. Perhaps 400 years
after this, Irapanga, perhaps following the sailing instructions of his ancestor, Maui
the Navigator, is said to have led a colonizing fleet of six canoes which sailed north
from the Spice Islands through Micronesia towards Japan and then followed the
Kuro Shio Current that flowed beyond Japan east towards Hawaii. Tradition tells us
that Irapanga’s people landed and settled on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The whare wananga traditions record two ancient colonizations which probably took place within Island Southeast Asia: from an ancient homeland, Irihia, to
Tawhiti-roa (possibly Sumatra) and then from Tawhiti-roa to Tawhiti-nui (possibly
Borneo). These migrations were led by four chiefs in a fleet of seven canoes, following invasion and defeat by what are described as thin, lanky, black-skinned men.
The account draws attention to the vulnerability of new migrants in an already settled land. It describes the first task for such migrants to be the building of a pa, a
fort, for protection against attacks from the local inhabitants. In the whare wananga
account, following their arrival in Tawhiti-nui there was discussion by the four chiefs
as to what kind of pa to build:
Tawhito-rangi considered they should build a stone fort, whilst Tu-rongo-rau thought a
wooden [i.e. palisaded] one best, with three lines of defence. Tu-te-mahurangi and Mahurangi said that the best pa for them would be to ascend to the midst of a cliff and there
excavate a deep place, so that when they went forth to seek food for themselves, the pa of
the women and children could not be taken by any people who might come to assault it [4].
This account suggests how old the tradition of pa-building was and how vital
pa-building was for migrants arriving in low numbers and settling in an already peopled land. The attractiveness of migration to a distant uninhabited land or sparsely
inhabited land is obvious, despite the inherent risks of long-distance voyaging.
In both the whare wananga traditions and the oral traditions preserved in New
Zealand of Maui’s visit, invaders are described as lanky and black-skinned. The
description implies the Polynesians’ awareness of their own robust cold-adapted
body form and of their paler skin. It makes clear too that the invading tribes were
not cold-adapted and so would not have been able to trade the spices themselves over
long ocean distances. In the early centuries AD they presumably became suppliers
to foreign maritime traders.