Polynesian navigators remembered for IYA2009
1 December 2009
The New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO and the Society for Maori Astronomy, Research and Tourism are hosting an extraordinary week of events to celebrate the achievements of ancient Polynesian navigators and scientists and to also mark the International Year of Astronomy 2009.
The first Polynesian voyagers used indigenous scientific astronomical knowledge, harnessing the night sky and the environment to guide them across 162 million square kilometres of ocean. Their journeys and settlements stretch from South East Asia and Melanesia in the West, to Hawaii in the north, Rapanui or Easter Island in the East and Aotearoa New Zealand in the South. To this day, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific while separated by the largest ocean on earth, remain linked to one another through language, culture and history.
NZ National Commission for UNESCO: http://www.unesco.org.nz/index.php/news-/47-news-priority-areas/123-mata-ora-the-living-knowledge-2009
Society for Maori Astronomy, Research and Tourism: http://www.star-smart.maori.nz/Star_Smart_Maori/Mata_Ora_2009.html
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