Exploration · c. 1025–1290 CE
Polynesians settle the remote Pacific
Society Islands (French Polynesia)
Sailing double-hulled canoes and steering by the rising and setting points of stars and by ocean swells, Polynesian voyagers spread across thousands of kilometres of open Pacific. High-precision radiocarbon dating suggests the Society Islands were settled around 1025–1120 CE and that, in one rapid pulse around 1190–1290, voyagers reached the remaining islands of East Polynesia, including Hawaii, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Why it mattered
Without instruments or charts, Polynesian navigators settled the last large habitable islands on the map of the Pacific, spreading related languages and cultures from Hawaii to New Zealand and Rapa Nui.
Elsewhere
Sweet potatoes, native to South America, were growing in the Cook Islands by about 1000 CE, which many researchers take as a sign that Polynesian voyagers reached the Americas and came back, though natural drift has also been proposed.
Related
- The world in 1000: The Millennium Turns chapter
- The Diamond Sutra, oldest dated printed book previous moment · 868 CE
- Song China: gunpowder, compass and paper money next moment · c. 1024–1088 CE