Sea People. Christina Thompson
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF WilliamCollinsBooks.com This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019 Copyright © Christina Thompson 2019 Cover illustration © Joe McLaren, Marquesas Islands, Polynesia, engraving by Danvin and Boys / Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy / De Agostini Picture Library / Bridgeman Images; A View in Oheitepha Bay on the Island of Otaheite, from‘Captains Cook’s Last Voyage’, 1809 (coloured engraving), Webber, John (1750–93) (after) / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images Christina Thompson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Information on previously published material appears here. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Source ISBN: 9780008339050 Ebook Edition © February 2019 ISBN: 9780008339036 Version: 2020-01-28
For Tauwhitu
For we are dear to the immortal gods,
Living here, in the sea that rolls forever,
Distant from other lands and other men.
—Homer, the Odyssey
(translated by Robert Fitzgerald)
Contents
Part I: The Eyewitnesses (1521–1722)
A Very Great Sea: The Discovery of Oceania
First Contact: Mendaña in the Marquesas
Barely an Island at All: Atolls of the Tuamotus
Outer Limits: New Zealand and Easter Island
Part II: Connecting the Dots (1764–1779)
Tahiti: The Heart of Polynesia
A Man of Knowledge: Cook Meets Tupaia
Tupaia’s Chart: Two Ways of Seeing
An Aha Moment: A Tahitian in New Zealand
Part III: Why Not Just Ask Them? (1779–1920)
In which we look at some of the stories that Polynesians told about themselves and consider the difficulty nineteenth-century Europeans had trying to make sense of them.
Drowned Continents and Other Theories: The Nineteenth-Century Pacific
A World Without Writing: Polynesian Oral Traditions
The Aryan Māori: An Unlikely Idea
A Viking in Hawai‘i: Abraham Fornander
Voyaging Stories: History and Myth
Part IV: The Rise of Science (1920–1959)
In which anthropologists pick up the trail of the ancient Polynesians, bringing a new, quantitative approach to the questions of who, where, and when.
Somatology: The Measure of Man
A Māori Anthropologist: Te Rangi Hiroa
The Moa Hunters: Stone and Bones
Radiocarbon Dating: The Question of When
The Lapita People: A Key Piece of the Puzzle
Part V: Setting Sail (1947–1980)
In which we set off on an entirely new tack, taking to the sea with a crew of experimental voyagers as they attempt to reenact the voyages of the ancient Polynesians.
Kon-Tiki: