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Pacific Navigation

More 5000 years ago expansion in the Pacific Ocean began. Navigation became an integral part of this migration process and produced some of the most sophisticated modes of nautical travel the world has ever seen. This topic focuses on Polynesian explorers and the extraordinary navigation skills they used to cross the Pacific Ocean. SCIS no. 1869064

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mattang

Mattang. Stick chart. Thin slats bound by twisted fibre string with small cream cowrie shells attached as islands. Roughly square in outline.

Pacific voyaging

Pacific voyaging

This painting by John Bevan Ford, ‘Peoples of the Pacific’, is part of his ‘Ngā tohunga waka’ (expert navigators) series. It depicts various types of waka (canoes) used in Pacific voyaging, and sta...

Land of Voyagers

This site celebrates stories of Polynesian voyagers and navigators . These stories have remained largely untold in our schools since the arrival of Captain Cook, 250 years ago and begins with the s...

Model vaka

A model of a Cook Island’s vaka or outrigger canoe.

Vaka taurua

A model of a vaka taurua or double-hulled waka.

Discovering the Pacific

How was the Pacific discovered by Polynesians and Europeans?

The story of Kupe the explorer and Wheke as told by Elsdon Best.

Surfing waka

Māori girls shooting the waves in a waka.

Waka taua, 1769

Waka taua, 1769

This ornately carved waka taua (war canoe) was seen off Gable End Foreland on the East Coast by members of English explorer James Cook's first voyage in 1769. The tauihu (prow) includes a large fig...

Tipaerua

A model of a double-hulled sailing vaka (canoe) from Tahiti.

Hekenukumai Busby

Hekenukumai Busby

In 1991–92 Hekenukumai (Hector) Busby, a skilled navigator from Northland, built the waka hourua (double-hulled canoe) Te Aurere. He was inspired by Nainoa Thompson, the navigator of the Hōkūle‘a, ...

Polynesian voyages

Polynesian voyages

Map showing voyages of the Polynesian navigators.

Waka

Double-hulled canoes

Double-hulled canoes

Painting by Isaac Gilsemans of double-hulled canoes.

The arrival of the Māori in New Zealand

The arrival of the Māori in New Zealand

Probably the best-known history painting ever produced in New Zealand caused a sensation when first exhibited in 1899.

Whai and navigation

Tiki and Riley swim with whai (short-tail stingray) at Rangiputa and then meet waka navigator Kahi to learn about celestial navigation.

Roadside stories: Kupe in the Hokianga

Hokianga Harbour was the departure point of legendary Māori navigator Kupe when he returned to Hawaiki.

Waka landing places

This map shows the landing places of a number of waka (canoes) important to different iwi (tribes) throughout New Zealand. They are Kurahaupō, Tākitimu, Mataatua, Tainui, Te Arawa, Aotea, Tokomaru,...

Vessels and Methods - Polynesian Voyagers. The Maori as a Deep-sea Navigator, Explorer, and Colonizer

We have scant information as to the size of trees suitable for canoe-making in the various islands of the Pacific. Ellis mentions a tree called by him the apape, used in canoe-making by Tahitians, ...

Waka is the Māori word for canoe. Māori ancestors were great canoe builders, navigators and sailors. Thousands of years ago, Māori ancestors left South-East Asia, moving into Oceania (Micronesia, M...

The ancient craft that carried the first settlers to New Zealand were probably double-hulled – rather like two canoes side by side. They are called waka hourua.

Tupaia's chart

Different waka for different roles

There were many different types of waka that were developed by our ancestors.

Maps in the stars

How Polynesians used celestial navigation to become the world’s best explorers.

Navigating oceans and cultures

Polynesian and European navigation systems in the late eighteenth century.

NZ bird migration and navigation

How do NZ migratory birds know where to go and how to get there?

Settling Polynesia

How humans reached remote South Pacific islands.

A thousand years ago, the great voyager Kupe made an epic journey.

Building a vaka

A Tokelau community in Porirua is keeping traditional knowledge alive by building a vaka from scratch.

Waka discovered

A partially complete waka has been uncovered during excavation work on a motorway project.

Polynesian explorers

How did Polynesian wayfinders navigate the Pacific Ocean?

Indigenous navigational knowledge and recovery

Explores the resurgence of the waka (canoe) culture and discusses the reasons for the disappearance of traditional navigational knowledge in Aotearoa and other islands of the Pacific.

Human settlement and the Pacific

Our Polynesian ancestors are renowned as some of the world’s most successful and innovative navigators.

A sustainable ocean going vaka

A new type of vaka motu is now sailing the Pacific Ocean.

Searching for te lapa, an underwater lighting-like phenomenon that can guide Pacific navigation.

Vaka Taumako project

The building of an authentic Polynesian voyaging vaka.

The history of navigation at sea.

Sticks and shell charts

How sticks and shell charts became a sophisticated system for navigation in the Pacific.

Statute of Kupe, his wife, and a tohunga

Statute of Kupe, his wife, and a tohunga

Originally made of plaster, this 1939 sculpture by William Trethewey was called ‘The Coming of the Māori’ in recognition of the explorer Kupe’s navigation skills in discovering Aotearoa/New Zealand...

Double-hulled Tongan kalia

Double-hulled Tongan kalia

Tongans were considered among the most adventurous ocean voyagers in Polynesia. Their ocean-going double-hulled waka (kalia) were large and ranged from 40 to 90 feet in length. Some could carry ove...

Stick chart

A Marshall Islands stick chart used for ocean navigation.

The Māori waka

The names of parts of Māori waka and associated objects.

Horouta waka resource

Ngāi Tāmanuhiri has worked alongside the Ministry of Education to create an educational resource, targeted at 9-11-year-old te reo Māori learners, called ‘He Putanga nō Uki’, which is a story about...

The star compass – kāpehu whetū

Like the Sun, stars rise in the eastern horizon and set in the western horizon. Navigators who know the direction and position in which the stars rise and set can use the horizon as a compass.

Navigating with Sun, Moon and planets

Knowledge about the apparent movement of the Sun, Moon and planets across the celestial sphereis important for wayfinding.

Navigating without instruments – introduction

The 2012–2013 voyage of the Waka Tapu closed the Polynesian triangle. This confirmed that it is possible to successfully and deliberately travel great distances by canoe while navigating without in...

Waka is the Māori word for canoe. Māori ancestors were great canoe builders, navigators and sailors.

Wayfinding revival

There has been renewed interest in the ancient art of wayfinding over the last 30–40 years.

Kupe and modern voyaging

In this activity, students read a legend of Kupe. They compare this with modern-day voyaging without navigational instruments to work out what might have happened during the Polynesian migration.

Pathway of the Birds

A review of Andrew Crowe’s Pathway of the Birds: The Voyaging Achievements of Maōri and Their Polynesian Ancestors.

Roadside Stories: Kupe and Cook in the Sounds

In Māori tradition, the drowned river valleys of the Marlborough Sounds were explored by the legendary Polynesian navigator Kupe in his pursuit of a giant octopus. Many place names in the area rela...

Departure of the six canoes from Raratonga for New Zealand

Departure of the six canoes from Raratonga for New Zealand

oil on canvas 1075 x 2140 mm - Kennett Watkins 1906 (l.l.) Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Mr John Marshall, 1914

The canoe is the people

The island peoples of the Pacific held the knowledge and skills to explore the great ocean paths extending far beyond their homes.

Pacific migrations

Pacific migrations

The Pacific was settled from the west by people sailing double-hulled canoes in a south-east direction. One of the main exceptions to this pattern was the settlement of New Zealand, which was achie...

Ideas about Māori origins

Ideas about Māori origins

The 1926 book Maori symbolism was written by the feminist Ettie Rout. Like other books of the time, it presented ideas about Māori origins that have since been disproved. Rout claimed that Māori he...

Oceanic Facts and Features

Oceanic Facts and Features

Waka hourua 'Te Aurere Iti' (model voyaging canoe)

Waka hourua 'Te Aurere Iti' (model voyaging canoe)

Te Aurere-iti is a small (about one-third size) replica of the modern waka hourua (double-hulled voyaging canoe) Te Aurere. Te Aurere-iti was built especially for the Mana Whenua exhibition at Te P...

Tupaia's Endeavour - The Feature Film

Tupaia's Endeavour - The Feature Film

Tahitian priest and navigator Tupaia acted as translator between Captain Cook’s crew and Māori, after a bloody first encounter at Poverty Bay/Tūranganui-a-Kiwa in 1769. Fijian-born filmmaker Lala R...

Samoan canoe crew aims to preserve ancient navigation knowledge

A canoe, or va'atele, from Samoa has sailed to New Zealand for a three week festival to promote a part of their culture that is at risk of dying.

Tools of Pacific navigation

Hōkūle'a and her return to te Moana Nui o Kiva

Sketch of double-hulled waka

Sketch of double-hulled waka

Double canoe was sketched off the New Zealand coast in 1769 by Herman Spöring

Pacific migrations

Pacific migrations

The world’s first seafarers set off from South-East Asia, sailing into the Pacific on simple rafts. Thousands of years later their Polynesian descendants began exploring further east, guided by the...

Pacific migrations: The world’s first seafarers

The Pacific was the first ocean to be explored and settled, and its history is one of voyages. New Zealand, isolated far to the south, was the last substantial land mass to be reached. There were t...

Different canoes of the Pacific and their uses

Canoe sails from Tahiti to Tauranga guided by stars

The double-hulled sailing canoe Fa'afaite arrived in Tauranga Harbour yesterday, after leaving Tahiti and crossing the Pacific using traditional navigation.

Tagata Pasifika - Hine Moana: A Journey Home

Tagata Pasifika - Hine Moana: A Journey Home

In this 2010 Tagata Pasifika story, reporter Adrian Stevanon follows efforts by a group of Pacific Island mariners to preserve the traditions and skills of the great Polynesian voyagers — as an arm...

Navigation: Tuia Mātauranga Curiosity Card

Navigation: Tuia Mātauranga Curiosity Card

The navigation curiosity card features Ātea a Rangi — a star compass based on traditional Pacific navigation — at Waitangi Regional Park, Napier. Ātea a Rangi features pou (poles) related to the r...

Canoes of the Marshall Islands

A documentary about the voyaging and navigation culture of the Marshall Islands. Learn about the history of voyaging in these islands as well as the ingenious design of the Marshallese canoes and ...

Kupe’s anchor

Kupe’s anchor

Held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, this is said to be the anchor stone of Mātāwhaorua, which was sailed by the Polynesian explorer Kupe. It used to be thought that Kupe discovered...

A Canoe of the Sandwich Islands, the Rowers Masked. Plate 65. From the book: Folio of Plates to Captain Cook's Voyages

A Canoe of the Sandwich Islands, the Rowers Masked. Plate 65. From the book: Folio of Plates to Captain Cook's Voyages

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