In the written material available ,there are descriptions of the sailing craft which were said to be up to 70' in length. The atolls of Rakahanga and Manihiki are regarded as one unit as the population would voyage from one to the other every three years to allow the atoll to recover and allow planted material to regenerate and hence required large vessels. The manufacture and maintenance of these would require a moderate sized population with great skills as these need constant attention. The waka were made from planks, sewn with coir and sealed with resin. These had to be from sustained resources. On these atolls are a variety of markers that give direction to other atolls such as Aitutaki and Tongareva. The peoples were voyaging skilled travellers. The contact with the Spanish is still in family oral traditions. Only for the 1860's was there contact with the LMS missionaries who altered the society. Spain at the time had not long before had removed the Moors and the population were darker skinned, more Arabic in appearance, hence the observation. Also with the trained crew on the ships at the time were a lot of Basque who dominated the skilled crews who crossed the Atlantic for many years for the Cod fishing beds off Canada, very experienced sailors..
Could have been other surrounding islanders were attracted by all the fuss with these large vessels sailing over the horizon. Descended upon Rakahanga to see what all the fuss was about = temporarily increasing population? Thanks for your input there Michael. BTW I plan to do a video on the South American slavers who preyed on the Cook Islanders. If you could recommend a book I'd appreciate it. All the best. Paul
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Thank you an interesting story
I was flabbergasted to learn how close he came to sailing straight into NZ! Thanks for your support there Ben.
In the written material available ,there are descriptions of the sailing craft which were said to be up to 70' in length. The atolls of Rakahanga and Manihiki are regarded as one unit as the population would voyage from one to the other every three years to allow the atoll to recover and allow planted material to regenerate and hence required large vessels. The manufacture and maintenance of these would require a moderate sized population with great skills as these need constant attention. The waka were made from planks, sewn with coir and sealed with resin. These had to be from sustained resources. On these atolls are a variety of markers that give direction to other atolls such as Aitutaki and Tongareva. The peoples were voyaging skilled travellers. The contact with the Spanish is still in family oral traditions.
Only for the 1860's was there contact with the LMS missionaries who altered the society.
Spain at the time had not long before had removed the Moors and the population were darker skinned, more Arabic in appearance, hence the observation. Also with the trained crew on the ships at the time were a lot of Basque who dominated the skilled crews who crossed the Atlantic for many years for the Cod fishing beds off Canada, very experienced sailors..
Could have been other surrounding islanders were attracted by all the fuss with these large vessels sailing over the horizon. Descended upon Rakahanga to see what all the fuss was about = temporarily increasing population? Thanks for your input there Michael. BTW I plan to do a video on the South American slavers who preyed on the Cook Islanders. If you could recommend a book I'd appreciate it. All the best. Paul
The black birds from south america took alot of islanders as slaves,,including alot from the island of tuvalu..love your video btw
Ya need a new map cobber! Steve Irwin is long gone and Danni Minogue...... I mean!
Only one to come up on Google sorry Jim. PS: I miss Mr Crocodile Hunter.
Yeah, there's no need for racism Mate!