GC010 Polynesian Navigation

Geek Counterpoint -- Your antidote to soundbite science!

If my experience is any guide, the maritime history you learned in school may well have focused on various European nations, and their voyages of discovery. Many of us were taught that long-distance oceanic voyages had to wait for the compass to be invented, then imported into Europe from China. Unfortunately, this treatment of history leaves out the fact that Polynesian sailors were criss-crossing large areas of the Pacific ocean TWO THOUSAND YEARS before Columbus was born. Even more impressive is the fact that it was done without navigational instruments or charts, in canoes built with tools made of stone, bone, and shells. This episode describes the low-tech but scientifically based Polynesian approach to long distance oceanic navigation.