1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Welcome to This Day in History Class, where 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: History waits for no One. Today is August seven. The 4 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: day was August seven nine. Norwegian ethnographer Tour higher Doll 5 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: and his crew on the kon Tiki made it to 6 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:38,240 Speaker 1: the Arroya at All in the two Amotu Archipelago near Tahiti. 7 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: Higher Doll's goal was to show that Native Americans could 8 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: have migrated from east to west to reach Polynesia. At 9 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: the time, prevailing thought was that Southeast Asians traveled from 10 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: the west eastward to populate Polynesia. Polynesia comprises more than 11 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: a thousand islands in the Pacific shan and The Polynesian 12 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: Triangle has Hawaii at its north eastern island in the east, 13 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: and New Zealand in the southwest. Tahiti is near the 14 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: middle of the triangle. In his book Vikings of the Sunrise, 15 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,199 Speaker 1: Maori doctor and scholar Tehrani Heroa, also known as Sir 16 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 1: Peter Henry Buck, trades the migration of people eastward to Polynesia, 17 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: but hier All thought differently. He has studied zoology, geography, 18 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: and Polynesian history and culture. He also spent time in 19 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: the Marqueses, a group of volcanic islands in the southern 20 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: Pacific Ocean, and he came to believe that South Americans 21 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: traveled west to populate Polynesia. He figured that they got 22 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: to the islands by accidentally drift voyaging. He came to 23 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: that conclusion because wind and current patterns in the Pacific 24 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: Ocean mainly flow from east to west, and he thought 25 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: that Native Americans would have drifted with the wind other 26 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: than traveled against the wind, as people coming to the 27 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: islands from the west would have had to. He noted 28 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: how South American plants like the sweet potato were in Polynesia, 29 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: and he noticed similarities between monuments on the Fatu Hiva 30 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: and the Marqueses and those from ancient South American civilizations. 31 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 1: He also drew connections between the appearance and cultural traditions 32 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: of Polynesians and South Americans. Hired All hypothesized that people 33 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,799 Speaker 1: arrived in Eastern Island from pre Incan Peru around five 34 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 1: hundred CE, and another group of people, he said, arrived 35 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: in Hawaii from British Columbia about five hundred years later. 36 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: So Hired Doll set off on a mission to show 37 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: that South Americans could have drift voyage to the Polynesian islands. 38 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,959 Speaker 1: He assembled a crew of five men for Norwegians and 39 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: a Swede to make the journey from Peru to Polynesia 40 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,519 Speaker 1: to demonstrate how the South Americans could have died there 41 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: with the wind and currents. He had the crew build 42 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: a raft made of balsa wood logs. He named the 43 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: raft Kuntiki, after an alternative name for an Incan creator guide. 44 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: The team's trip began on April ninety seven when they 45 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: left Kayao, Peru, along with a Spanish speaking parrot. They 46 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: had an amateur radio station that they used to communicate 47 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: with North and South American stations. Otherwise, they looked to 48 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: the sun, stars, currents, and winds to keep them on track. 49 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: They used sales paddles and a steering oar to guide 50 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: the craft. On July they spotted land, and on August 51 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: seven the crew arrived at the Arroyo. At all they 52 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: had traveled more than four thousand miles or six hundred 53 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: kilometers in one hundred and one days. Pira Dollar had 54 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: proved that it was possible for South Americans to travel 55 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: to Polynesia on the tides, but oral tradition, archaeological data, 56 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: linguistic structures, and plants still pointed to the west to 57 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: east vigration theory being the more probable one. Scholars still 58 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: rejected his east to west theory, and researchers built models 59 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: showing that it was highly unlikely that Polynesia was populated 60 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: through the drift process. Hired All later led more expeditions 61 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: to islands and voyages and primitive vessels. In the nineteen fifties, 62 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: New Zealander Andrew Sharp proposed that Polynesians did come from Asia, 63 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: but that their vessels and navigational tools were too crude 64 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: to get them from Tahiti to Hawaii or New Zealand intentionally. 65 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy six, traditional Micronesian navigator Maupa Luke showed 66 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: that intentional voyaging was possible using non instrument navigational and 67 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: land finding techniques, and Polynesia could have been populated that way. 68 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: I'm Eve Jeff Code, and hopefully you know a little 69 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,719 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you 70 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: have any burning questions or comments to tell us, you 71 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at t 72 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: d i h C Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, 73 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: and I hope to see you again tomorrow for more 74 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 1: tidbits of history. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 75 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,920 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 76 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.