Pathway of the Birds: The Voyaging Achievements of Māori and Their Polynesian Ancestors

By: Andrew Crowe

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Synopsis: The skill of Polynesian navigators to find and re-find incredibly small and/or remote targets far exceeds that of early Greeks, Romans, Vikings, Indians and Chinese, so how did Pacific wayfinders do this without instruments? Hawaiian master navigator Nainoa Thompson shares the key: 'Everything you need to navigate is in nature. The question is, can you see it?' In this illustrated multi-level book, natural history writer Andrew Crowe elaborates at length on this skill and how it contributes to a deeper understanding of one of the most expansive and rapid phases of human migration in prehistory, a period during which Polynesians reached and settled nearly every archipelago scattered across some 28 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, an area now known as East Polynesia.