Micronesian navigation techniques are those navigation skills used for thousands of years by the navigators who voyaged between the thousands of small islands in the westernPacific Ocean in thesubregion ofOceania, that is commonly known asMicronesia. These voyagers used wayfinding techniques such as the navigation by the stars, and observations of birds,ocean swells, and wind patterns, and relied on a large body of knowledge from oral tradition.[1][2][3]These navigation techniques continued to be held byPolynesian navigators and navigators from theSanta Cruz Islands.[4] There-creations of Polynesian voyaging in the late 20th century used traditional stellar navigational methods that had remained in everyday use in theCaroline Islands.
Based on the current scientific consensus, theMicronesians are considered, by linguistic, archaeological, and human genetic evidence, to be a subset of the sea-migratingAustronesian people, who include thePolynesian people and theMelanesian people. Austronesians were the first people to invent oceangoing sailing technologies (notablydouble-hulled sailing canoes,outrigger boats,lashed-lugboat building, and thecrab claw sail), which enabled their rapid dispersal into the islands of theIndo-Pacific.[5][6][7] From 2000 BCE they assimilated (or were assimilated by) the earlier populations on the islands in their migration pathway.[8][9][10][11][12]
TheMariana Islands were first settled around 1500 to 1400 BCE by migrants departing from thePhilippines. This was followed by a second migration from theCaroline Islands during the first millennium CE, and a third migration fromIsland Southeast Asia (likely the Philippines or easternIndonesia) by 900 CE.[13][14][15]
People from theCaroline Islands had regular contact with theChamorro people of theMarianas Islands, as well as rarer voyages into the eastern islands of thePhilippines.[16]
Mau Piailug was the best-known teacher of traditional, non-instrumentwayfinding methods for open-ocean voyaging. He was a masternavigator from theCarolinian island ofSatawal. He earned the title of master navigator (palu) by the age of eighteen in 1950; which involved thesacredinitiation ritual known asPwo. As he neared middle age, he grew concerned that the practice of navigation in Satawal would disappear as his people becameacculturated to Western values. In the hope that the navigational tradition would be preserved for future generations, Mau shared his knowledge with thePolynesian Voyaging Society (PVS). With Mau's help, PVS recreated and tested lost Hawaiian navigational techniques on theHōkūle‘a, a modern reconstruction of a double-hulledHawaiian voyagingcanoe.[17][18]
Hipour was a master navigator from the navigational school ofWeriyeng and the island ofPuluwat.[19] In 1969, Hipour accompaniedDavid Henry Lewis on hisketchIsbjorn fromPuluwat inChuuk toSaipan in theNorthern Mariana Islands, and back, using traditional navigation techniques; a distance of approximately 1,000 km (621.37 mi) each way.[20][21]
In April 1970, Repunglug and Repunglap, half-brothers, navigated from Satawal to Saipan in a traditional Carolinian outrigger canoe, which was approximately 26 feet (7.92 m) long, and equipped with a canvas sail.[21] This voyage was understood on Satawal to be the first time in the 20th century that a traditional canoe had made the voyage to Saipan.[21] While they used a small boat compass, they relied on their knowledge of traditional stellar navigation and wave patterns to sail approximately 52 miles (84 km) toWest Fayu, where they waited for favourable winds before continuing on the 422 miles (679 km) voyage to Saipan.[21] They later made the return journey to Satawal.[21]
In the early 1970's there were at least 17 men who could serve as a master navigator (palu) for voyages to the Marianas. They include Sautan onElato; Orupi, a Satawal man residing onLamotrek; Ikegun, Epaimai, Repunglug, Repunglap, andMau Piailug fromSatawal; Ikuliman, Ikefie, Manipi, Rapwi, Faipiy, Faluta, Filewa andHipour, all fromPuluwat; Yaitiluk fromPulap, and Amanto fromTamatam. There were also six or seven apprentice navigators learning the art of traditional navigation on Satawal, including Epoumai and Repunglug's son Olakiman.[21][4]
The Carolinian navigation system, used by Mau Piailug, relies on navigational clues using the Sun and stars, winds and clouds, seas andswells, observing the flight path of birds, and the patterns ofbioluminescence that indicated the direction in which islands were located,[22][23] which skills were acquired throughrote learning passed down through teachings in theoral tradition.[24]
Once they had arrived fairly close to a destination island, the navigator would have been able to pinpoint its location by sightings of land-based birds, the cloud formations that form over islands, as well as the reflections of shallow water made on the undersides of clouds. Subtle differences in the colour of the sky also could be recognised as resulting from the presence of lagoons or shallow waters, as deep water was a poor reflector of light while the lighter colour of the water of lagoons and shallow waters could be identified in the reflection in the sky.[2]
These wayfinding navigation technique relies heavily on constant observation and memorization. Navigators have to memorize where they have sailed from in order to know where they are. The sun was the main guide for navigators because they could follow its exact points as it rose and set. Once the sun had set they would use the rising and setting points of the stars. When there were no stars because of a cloudy night or during daylight, a navigator would use the winds and swells as guides.[24][23]
The positions of the stars helped guide voyages. Stars, as opposed to planets, hold fixed celestial positions year-round, changing only their rising time with the seasons. Each star has a specificdeclination, and can give abearing for navigation as it rises or sets.
For navigators near the equator, (as navigators sailing between the islands of Micronesia),celestial navigation is simplified, given that the wholecelestial sphere is exposed. Any star that passes through thezenith (overhead) moves along thecelestial equator, the basis of theequatorial coordinate system. Voyagers would set a heading by a star near the horizon, switching to a new one once the first rose too high. A specific sequence of stars would be memorized for each route.[2][3][22]
Navigating by the stars requires knowledge of when particular stars, as they rotated through the night sky, would pass over the island to which the voyagers were sailing. The technique of "sailing down the latitude" was used.[2][3] That is, knowledge that the movement of stars over different islands followed a similar pattern, (by recognising that different islands have a similar relationship to the night sky) provided the navigators with a sense oflatitude, so that they could sail with the prevailing wind, before turning east or west to reach the island that was their destination.[1][2]
Navigators could also observe the direction of the wave andswell formations to navigate caused by islands. Many of the habitable areas of the Pacific Ocean are groups of islands (or atolls) in chains hundreds of kilometres long. Island chains have predictable effects on waves and currents. Navigators who lived within a group of islands would learn the effect various islands had on the swell shape, direction, and motion, and would have been able to correct their path accordingly. Even when they arrived in the vicinity of an unfamiliar chain of islands, they may have been able to detect signs similar to those of their home.[2]
The energy transferred from the wind to the sea produces wind waves. The waves that are created when the energy travels down away from the source area (like ripples) are known as swell. When the winds are strong at the source area, the swell is larger. The longer the wind blows, the longer the swell lasts. Because the swells of the ocean can remain consistent for days, navigators relied on them to carry their canoe in a straight line from one house (or point) on the star compass to the opposite house of the same name. Navigators were not always able to see stars; because of this, they relied on the swells of the ocean. Swell patterns are a much more reliable method of navigation than waves, which are determined by the local winds.[2][3] Swells move in a straight direction which makes it easier for the navigator to determine whether the canoe is heading in the correct direction.[26]
The people of theMarshall Islands have a history of usingstick charts, to serve as spatial representations of islands and the conditions around them; with the curvature and meeting-points of the coconut ribs indicating the wave motion that was the result of islands standing in the path of the prevailing wind and the run of the waves.[2][3] The charts represented majorocean swell patterns and the ways theislands disrupted those patterns, typically determined by sensing disruptions in ocean swells by islands during sea navigation. Most stick charts were made from the midribs of coconut fronds that were tied together to form an open framework. Island locations were represented by shells tied to the framework, or by the lashed junction of two or more sticks. The threads represented prevailingocean surface wave-crests and directions they took as they approached islands and met other similar wave-crests formed by the ebb and flow of breakers. Individual charts varied so much in form and interpretation that the individual navigator who made the chart was the only person who could fully interpret and use it.[27] The use of stick charts ended afterWorld War II when new electronic technologies made navigation more accessible and travel among islands by canoe lessened.[22]
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