24 AUSTRALIA and the PACIFIC

GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Pacific Voyaging and Discovery – After the Lapita

Emergence of West Polynesian culture

Some 3,000 years ago (around 1000 BCE) the distinctive Polynesian culture and language began to emerge in West Polynesia. Decorated Lapita pottery evolved into Polynesian plainware, and there were other changes in technology and settlement.

Island geology and migration

There are two main types of island in the Pacific: continental and oceanic. Continental islands lie in the western Pacific, and oceanic islands in the eastern Pacific. On maps a geological division called the Andesite Line runs between the two regions; oceanic islands lie to the east of the line.

Continental islands are partly submerged continents. They have diverse rock types, better soils and more resources, making long-term settlement easier.

Oceanic islands sit on top of volcanic seamounts that rise from the ocean floor. They may be high, low, or atolls just above sea level. With more restricted rock types, soils and resources, they may have been more difficult to colonise successfully.

As voyagers began to migrate eastward they settled the continental islands first. These islands include all of Island South-East Asia; Australia; Melanesia; and the westernmost islands of Micronesia (Palau, Yap and the Marianas) and Polynesia (Tonga, Futuna and Uvea).

West Micronesia was settled by 1300 BCE – about the time the Lapita communities were established in the Bismarck Archipelago. Migrants spread through island Melanesia and West Polynesia during 1100–800 BCE. Samoa, which is close to Fiji and Tonga, was also settled then.

The oceanic islands of East Micronesia were not settled until perhaps 1,000 years later. Another millennium passed before East Polynesia was settled.

Migration to East Polynesia

Radiocarbon dating reveals that there were no human settlements in East Polynesia for 2,000 years after the Lapita arrived in West Polynesia. Some time after 1000 CE people began to spread through East Polynesian archipelagos, settling the closest first. There is debate about when the Southern Cook and Society Islands were first settled.

Settlement stages

As well as the geological drawbacks of the eastern oceanic islands, there are other possible reasons for the long period that elapsed before migration to East Polynesia began.

Better canoe technology might have been necessary before further ocean crossings could be made. This is unlikely, however, as there are no marked changes in wind or weather between West and East Polynesia. There may in fact have been settlement further east during this time, as there is evidence of forest clearance and increased erosion on some islands. However, it is unclear whether humans caused this.

The oceanic islands are more isolated than the continental islands – eastward, there is proportionately more sea than land. Although closer oceanic islands, such as the Cooks, remained feasible targets, such islands may have proved harder to live on rather than harder to find. It is possible that exploration and discovery continued, but actual migration slowed.

The Polynesians, descendants of the Lapita, developed the ability to survive on more remote islands, and to reduce their isolation by voyaging between colonies.

East Polynesia was settled from West Polynesia, and in turn New Zealand was settled by seafarers whose most likely origin was somewhere in East Polynesia. These people developed their own culture and came to be known as Māori. Today, Māori regard East Polynesia as their homeland, which they call Hawaiki.

The last migrations were to the distant points of Polynesia – Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand – and to South America.

The eastern Pacific is virtually empty, and huge areas of ocean had to be crossed to find remaining islands. The chance of any voyage resulting in a new discovery was low. It would have been pointless to send migratory canoes carrying people, plants and animals. Probably, exploring voyagers made discoveries and then returned home; migrating voyagers could then set off, sailing directly to known destinations.

The further east you sail in the Pacific the more difficult it is to navigate. Over time, voyagers had learnt how to navigate this part of the ocean. Computer-simulated voyages suggest that homecoming canoes must have been increasingly reliant upon latitude sailing: returning navigators would use zenith stars (which at their highest point shine directly over a known island) to reach the latitude of their destination while still upwind of it. They would then run downwind to reach the island.

In prehistoric voyages from central East Polynesia to islands at its distant margins, canoes generally made round trips – the prevailing winds did not normally allow voyagers to return directly. They had to stop at islands along the way, or use different weather systems.

Southward to New Zealand

Lying in a band of prevailing westerly winds far south of the tropics, New Zealand presented a severe challenge to Polynesian navigators. A good way to reach the country was to sail with easterly tail winds across the top of an anti-clockwise rotating high-pressure system. Early summer, before the cyclone season, is an ideal time to make the journey. Two replica canoes, Hōkūle‘a and Hawaiki nui, did just this in November 1985.

Another approach is to use northerly winds behind a high-pressure system or on the leading edge of an advancing frontal system, a cycle which recurs about once a week.

Exploring canoes may have followed migrating birds, as told in Māori tradition. The long-tailed cuckoo comes to New Zealand from tropical Polynesia in October, and shearwaters would have been observed flying south in September. People would have known that land lay in that direction, but not how far away it was. The first landfalls were probably on the northern North Island, with the rest of the country being explored later.

The Chatham Islands

The Chatham Islands were settled from New Zealand by Māori. The islands were the extreme destination in prehistoric migration, because they lie in a belt of westerly winds that would have been very difficult to return against. Not surprisingly, they were the last Pacific islands to be reached, some time after 1300.

The influence of sea-level changes on Pacific migrations

Around 10,000 years ago, warming global temperatures caused polar ice to melt and the world’s sea levels to rise. Some 6,000 years ago sea levels reached a high point of a few metres above present levels, and over several thousand years they slowly dropped. It probably took many hundreds of years for habitable dry islets to form on coral reefs. In the case of high islands the falling sea levels allowed the formation of extensive coastal flats favourable for settlement. Recent geological research across many Pacific archipelagos suggests that the timing of falling sea levels influenced the timing of Pacific migrations: as sea levels lowered there were not only more islands to settle, but also better settlement sites on already settled islands.

Adapted from Te Ara.  The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2005.   License: Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Ma’ui, Oceania’s Hero: Crash Course World Mythology #31

URL: https://youtu.be/eBB3RKazIj8

Source:  https://thecrashcourse.com/courses/maui-oceanias-hero-crash-course-world-mythology-31/