Each of the active red numbers on the
above map lead to a picture of a canoe design that is typical of the area
represnted.
- Va'a motu of
Tahiti
Voyaging pahi of
Tahiti
Va'a Ti'i of Tahiti
- Pahi of the Tuamotu
Islands
- Waka Tou'ua of
the Marquesas Islands
- Cook Islands
canoe
- War canoes of New
Zealand
- Tongiaki of
Tonga
- Ndrua of the Fiji
Islands
Camakau of Fiji
Islnads
- Old voyaging canoe
approaching Hawaii
The discovery of
Oahu.
Hokule'a II, voyaging canoe
Discovery of Hawaii by a voyaging canoe from the
South.
- Hawaiian canoe crossing to
Molokai
Hawaiian fishing canoe off the
north Kona coast.
Masked paddlers
in Kealakekua Bay
Hawaiian double canoe in
Kealakekua Bay
Peleleu war
canoe of Kemehameha I
Find more pictures and information about canoes and voyaging
at the Hawaiian Eyes Web site and at the
on-line publication of the book Ancient
Hawaii by Herb Kawainui Kane. The following text is excerpted from
Ancient Hawaii
1. Voyagers
sailing from Western Polynesia, exploring to the west on the prevailing
easterly winds, settled on island in Southern Micronesia and Eastern Melanesia,
now known a the Polynesian outliers. Samoan voyagers were ancestors of some
Cook Island clans. From the 17th century into the 19th century. Tongans
regularly visited Samoa, raided north through Tuvalu and into Micronesian
Kiribati, and fought as mercenaries in Fiji.
2.
About 1,000 years ago the leeward Thitian islands (Ra'iatea, Bora Bora,
and Huahine) became a center of cultural change and great Mana from
which adventurous high-status chiefs sailed to establish their rule in Tahiti
and in the Hawaiian, Cook, Austral, and Tuamotu Islands. Some clans emigrated
to New Zealand, which may have been rediscovered during this era. Hawaiian
traditions begin with this era of conquest: those of earlier Polynesian
inhabitants were not preserved.
Link to on-line publication of Ancient Hawai'i
