Traditional celestial navigation and star-compass systems in central Polynesia (prehistory–20th century)

1. Lapita seafarers reach Tonga, western Polynesia

   Jan 1, 850 BCELabels: Lapita people, Tonga

   • PNAS
   • UNESCO WHC

2. Central Polynesia settles, sustaining inter-island voyaging

   Jan 1, 1000Labels: Society Islands, Polynesian navigators

   • Society Islands

3. European contact begins recording Indigenous wayfinding knowledge

   Jan 1, 1769Labels: European explorers, Indigenous navigators

   • Cook Society
   • Te Ara

4. Tupaia begins drafting a Pacific chart for Cook

   Aug 15, 1769Labels: Tupaia, James Cook

   • Te Ara
   • Cook Society

5. Marshallese stick charts documented as navigation teaching aids

   Jan 1, 1850Labels: Marshall Islands, stick charts

   • Met Museum
   • British Museum

6. David Lewis publishes “We, the Navigators”

   Jan 1, 1972Labels: David Lewis, We the

   • ANU Press
   • We Navigators

7. Polynesian Voyaging Society is founded in Hawaiʻi

   Jan 1, 1973Labels: Polynesian Voyaging, Hawai i

   • PVS

8. Voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa is launched

   Mar 8, 1975Labels: H k, voyaging canoe

   • PVS
   • H k le

9. Hōkūleʻa sails Hawaiʻi to Tahiti by wayfinding

   May 1, 1976Labels: Mau Piailug, H k

   • H k le
   • Hokulea Archive

10. Hōkūleʻa capsizes; Eddie Aikau is lost

    Mar 17, 1978Labels: H k, Eddie Aikau

    • Eddie Aikau
    • Honolulu Advertiser

11. Nainoa Thompson navigates to Tahiti without instruments

    Jan 1, 1980Labels: Nainoa Thompson, star compass

    • Hokulea Archive
    • AP News

12. PBS “Wayfinders” documents the voyaging revival

    May 1, 1999Labels: PBS, Wayfinders

    • PBS Wayfinders
    • PRX

13. Hawaiian Star Compass shared as an educational model

    Jan 1, 2000Labels: Hawaiian Star, Nainoa Thompson

    • NLM Exhibit

14. Death of Mau Piailug marks end of an era

    Jul 12, 2010Labels: Mau Piailug

    • Mau Piailug
    • H k le