A group of indigenous Taiwanese seafarers have completed a daring quest, braving choppy waters and using the stars for navigation as they paddled a traditional wooden canoe to the Philippines –– in a journey that highlights the astonishing feat of human migration across the Pacific.
Recreating the Great Pacific Migration
Taiwan’s indigenous people are believed to be the ancestors of many of the groups who came to inhabit lands stretching from Hawaii and Easter Island in the eastern Pacific, to Madagascar, off the coast of east Africa. They share genetic and linguistic links and the navigational skills of their forebears – who traveled extraordinary distances in primitive vessels, successfully finding their way to tiny land masses – is considered one of the great migrations in human history.
On Monday, 60 Tao people from Taiwan’s Orchid Island set off on a 111-mile voyage, taking turns to paddle against strong currents to reach the Ivatan people on Batan Island, located in the far north of the Philippines, replicating a journey first thought to have been made more than 4,000 years ago.
The journey is meant to revive a sea route not used for 300 years, and one that in the past could’ve been considered nearly impossible –– given the lack of maps and the crude vessels early navigators of the Bashi Channel once used. More than 200 people from six tribal communities took part in making the canoe – named “Ovayan,” or “Golden Friendship” – using traditional methods to bind specially cut wood without the need of nails.
Emeritus Professor of Archaeology Peter Bellwood, from Australian National University, told CNN that it’s absolutely certain the Great Pacific Migration began in Taiwan, maybe 5,000 years ago. Then, it spread into the Philippines, and then onwards. From there, the groups spread further to other places, such as Indonesia and Pacific islands, he said, adding that there were archaeological records and DNA traces to back that up.
Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.
