Polynesian’s By: Julia and Jess

Facts The word Polynesian means “many islands” The population is more than 10 million people Major islands of Polynesia, Cook Islands, Easter Island, French Polynesia, Hawai’ian Islands, Kiribati, Marquesas‘ Islands, New Zealand (Aotearoa), Samoa, Tonga. Polynesian’s carved stone sculptures called tiki to represent there gods. The most feared god in Hawai’i was Pele the goddess of volcanoes

Navigation In order to locate directions at various times of the day and year, Polynesian Navigators memorize the important facts, the motion of specific stars, so where they would rise at set on the horizon of the ocean; weather and seasons of travel; wild life species; the direction size and speed of the ocean waves, colors of the sea and sky. They were guided by astronomy, the wind and waves. They used the method way finding; navigation without instrumentation, it involves the intimate knowledge of the sky, the ocean and the weather.

Navigation They looked at the stars and felt the canoe lurching on the waves, that was a way to know where you were going. They were guided by astronomy, the wind and waves.

Navigation Celestial Navigation is the art and science of finding your way by the sun, moon, stars, and planets They used an instrument called the Marshall Island stick chart The charts represented major ocean swell patterns and the ways the islands disrupted those patterns, typically determined by sensing disruptions in ocean swells by islands during sea navigation. Stick charts were typically made from the midribs of coconut fronds tied together to form an open framework. Island locations were represented by shells tied to the framework

Bibliography www.astronomy.pomona.edu/.../Polynesian%20Navigat.dav.chen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation Webster, Christine. Polynesians. New York: AV2 by Weigl, 2013. Print.