THE PACIFIC ISLANDS: ANCIENT EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT: March 2013

Mystery of the Pacific Ocean

The Europeans' "discovery" of the Pacific Island began in the 16th century as they groped their way eastward from around the Cape of Good Hope, or westward from around Cape Horn.

But what they found were island cultures that had existed for a long time, complete with royal hierarchies and elaborate ceremonies: complex societies with long histories.

Captain Cook was one of the first to wonder: just how did they get there? And when?

The story of the first settlers of the Pacific Islands has gradually emerged, thanks to the efforts of many archaeologists, agronomists, oceanographers and even linguists. And of many present day Polynesian people who are delving into their past and recording information for the future generations of island people.

In this blog I will record what has been learned about these early explorers whom we now know began an extraordinary journey from Southern China, back in the Stone Age.

It's a story that has to be told.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

"TOWARDS RAHITI

Well, here is me holding the Proof Copy of my book about the Austronesian voyaging peoples.

The book is named "Towards Rahiti" and you will know how that fits in when you read the book!

After some months of patient plodding and waiting - even waiting weeks for a decent sunrise shot for the cover during a long rainy spell - we are well under way now to release the book late April 2013.

Friday, March 15, 2013

NEW BOOK

If you take a look at the Pacific Ocean, you will soon realise just how vast it is.

So how did Stone Age people, with none of our technologies, find their way across such vast distances of ocean?

I have written a book about this adventure - surely one of the great voyaging adventures of all time.

The story traces a family caught up in a need to find a new homeland, and tells the story of just how they did that, and of all the things that happened to them along the way.

The book is based on my modest research of these Austronesian people and tells what might have happened to them, good and bad. The story is a historical adventure yarn, written in a down-to-early style, and does not have one swear word in it! Children can read it. Older folks will find it interesting.

The book is called "TOWARDS RAHITI" and soon will go to the printers.

I'll let you all know when it can be purchase for a modest sum.

"TOWARDS RAHITI"

In May 2013 I launched my novella "Towards Rahiti" and eventually sold all copies I had printed.

Based upon my research into the Austronesian navigators and their culture, the book told the story of a family taking part in one of the most adventurous human migrations ever undertaken by Stone Age People.

You will know what it would have been like to take part in such an adventure.

Most comments I have had indicate that readers wanted to know more about the lives of the Stone Age people involved, so I am going to expand the book next year, and add the voyage north to Hawaii, some 2000 years after the time of my story.

Watch this space!