Polynesian navigation

Polynesian navigation or Polynesian wayfinding was used for thousands of years to enable long trips across thousands of kilometers of the open Pacific Ocean. Polynesians made contact with nearly every island within the huge Polynesian Triangle. Navigators travelled to small islands using wayfinding techniques and knowledge passed by oral tradition, often in the form of song. Generally, each island maintained a group of navigators who had very high status; in times of widespread death from starving or difficulty, they could trade for aid or evacuate people to neighbouring islands.

Hawaiian navigators sailing multi-hulled canoe, c. 1781