{"id":273906,"date":"2021-06-14T10:27:21","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T07:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/pacific-islanders-likely-found-antarctica-first-study\/"},"modified":"2021-06-14T10:27:21","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T07:27:21","slug":"pacific-islanders-likely-found-antarctica-first-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/pacific-islanders-likely-found-antarctica-first-study\/","title":{"rendered":"#Pacific islanders likely found Antarctica first: study"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Pacific islanders likely found Antarctica first: study<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n A new study has concluded that Polynesian seafarers likely reached Antarctica hundreds of years before the Western explorers usually credited with discovering the frozen continent.
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Polynesian seafarers likely reached Antarctica hundreds of years before the Western explorers usually credited with discovering the frozen continent, a new study has concluded.<\/p>\n


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New Zealand researchers scoured so-called “grey literature”\u2014including oral records, historic indigenous artworks and non-academic sources\u2014looking for links between Maori people and Antarctica.<\/p>\n

“When you put it together, it’s really clear, there’s a very long history of connection to Antarctica,” said project leader Priscilla Wehi from New Zealand’s government research institute Manaaki Whenua.<\/p>\n

“We found connection to Antarctica and its waters (has) been occurring since the earliest traditional voyaging, and later through participation in European-led voyaging and exploration, contemporary scientific research, fishing, and more, for centuries.”<\/p>\n

Polynesian seafarers are widely regarded as some of history’s greatest sailors, navigating vast distances between Pacific islands with pin-point precision on their double-hulled waka, or canoes.<\/p>\n

The research, published last week in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, found they reached Antarctica long before the first Westerners in the 1820s.<\/p>\n

The researchers believe the first voyage to Antarctica waters even pre-dates Maori arrival in New Zealand in the 14th century.<\/p>\n

“We find Polynesian narratives of voyaging between the islands include voyaging into Antarctic waters by Hui Te Rangiora and his crew on the vessel Te Ivi O Atea, likely in the early seventh century,” Wehi said.<\/p>\n

“These navigational accomplishments are widely acknowledged.”<\/p>\n

Oral histories of the voyage include reference to “a foggy, misty and dark place not seen by the sun” and iceberg-like summits “piercing the sky with no vegetation”.<\/p>\n

The study said that Maori carving and weaving also supported accounts of early Antarctic exploration.<\/p>\n

Wehi said collating traditional Maori accounts helped give a broader view of Antarctic history, beyond the accounts of European male explorers that usually predominate.<\/p>\n

“History tends to be told by one voice and there’s often a dominant narrative,” she told the New Zealand Herald.<\/p>\n

“Often indigenous history and even women’s history becomes invisible, so for me it’s about making that history visible.”<\/p>\n\n

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M\u0101ori connections to Antarctica may go as far back as 7th century\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n More information:<\/strong>
\n Priscilla M. Wehi et al, A short scan of M\u0101ori journeys to Antarctica, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand<\/i> (2021). DOI: 10.1080\/03036758.2021.1917633<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Pacific islanders likely found Antarctica first: study (2021, June 14)
\n retrieved 14 June 2021
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2021-06-pacific-islanders-antarctica.html<\/p>\n

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