History of Oceanography & Polynesian Voyaging

Question 0

Why have much of Polynesian (esp. Hawaiin) voyaging knowledge was lost?

Answer 0

In part because navigation techniques were secret and taught only to very select groups of people.

Question 1

Polynesian voyaging

Answer 1

1) Austronesian speakers settle New Guinea and Philippines ~20,000 yrs ago
2) Settle Fiji ~1,300 yrs ago
3) Tonga ~1,100 yrs ago
4) Samoa and Marquesas 500 BC

All colonizing was probably deliberate

Question 2

How did Polynesian voyagers steer their course(s)?

Answer 2

Courses steered by rising and setting/rising stars, sun, wind, and waves

Question 3

How did Polynesian voyagers figure out their position relative to nearby islands?

Answer 3

Home reference system by observing their surroundings very accurately. Unlike the self-centered reference system (compass). Use deflected swells, homing birds, cloud patterns, reflection of land in sky, etc.

Question 4

Library of Alexandria

Answer 4

Kept scrolls from ships and land caravans. After its destruction, much knowledge was lost, society regressed, and the Dark Ages ensued.

Question 5

Erastothenes

Answer 5

~200 BC: discovered Earth was round and calculated its size

Question 6

Hipparchus

Answer 6

~140 BC develops 360 degree system

Question 7

Ptolemy

Answer 7

~120 AD: adds minutes and seconds to the 360 degree system; recalculated the size of Earth but got it wrong

Question 8

Vikings

Answer 8

Colonized Iceland ~700 AD
Discover Greenland & N. America ~990 AD
As climates changes, Viking empire declines

Question 9

What was the longitude problem?

Answer 9

The only way to fix longitude was with time, but that was not possible due to the fact that all clocks at the time were powered by pendulums. Harrison developed the first chronometer.

Question 10

How can you measure longitude using time?

Answer 10

You must know the time where you started your journey from. Record the time the sun is directly overhead at your new position while traveling. Compare this time to the time at your starting point. Every hour later than mid-day at at the starting position = 15 degrees longitude to the west.

Question 11

Why can you measure longitude using time?

Answer 11

Earth has 360 longitudinal degrees and has 24 hours

360/24 = 15

Question 12

Wilkes

Answer 12

1838-1842: 6 vessels mapping areas, collected specimens (now in the Smithsonian collection). May have been the first to discover Antarctica. Court-martialed on return.

Question 13

Challenger expedition

Answer 13

First expedition devoted entirely to science/directed by scientists. Found life in the deep-sea using probes disproving Forbes theory

Question 14

Nansen

Answer 14

1895: Froze a specially constructed ship into the ice and attempted to ski to the N. Pole