Expansion ← planned settlement
Historians used to assume that all those Polynesian islands were discovered and settled by chance, as a result of canoes full of fishermen happening to get blown off course. It is now clear, however, that both the discoveries and the settlements were meticulously planned. Contrary to what one would expect for accidental drift voyages, much of Polynesia was settled in a west-to-east direction opposite to that of the prevailing winds and currents, which are from east to west. New islands could have been discovered by voyagers sailing upwind on a predetermined bearing into the unknown, or waiting for a temporary reversal of the prevailing winds. Transfers of many species of crops and livestock, from taro to bananas and from pigs to dogs and chickens, prove beyond question that settlement was by well-prepared colonists, carrying products of their homelands deemed essential to the survival of the new colony.
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- Against wind
- Carried crops & livestock
- Polynesian sailing canoe (Hōkūleʻa) voyages with exclusively traditional navigation techniques
- Control for risk of overpopulation & starvation
Much commoner than such explicit suicide was “virtual suicide” by setting out on dangerous overseas voyages, which claimed the lives of 81 men and three women between 1929 and 1952.
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Why Easter statues ↑
- Best tuff stone for carving
- Isolation = no inter-island interaction, internal competition
- Gentle terrain & complementary resources → integration
- Initial food surpluses
- Exists technology (transporting & erecting heavy objects)