Why read Vaka Moana, Voyages of the Ancestors?

Book cover of Vaka Moana, Voyages of the Ancestors: The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific

Book description

The discovery and settlement of the islands of the Pacific is the last and greatest story of human migration. The daring explorers who crossed the vast ocean that covers a third of the earth’s surface were the world’s first deepsea sailors and navigators. Thousands of years before any other peoples…

Explore

Topics

Genres

History

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Vaka Moana, Voyages of the Ancestors as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Christina Thompson

Author

This handsome coffee table book with short, topical essays by Ben Finney, Geoffrey Irwin, Sam Low, and others is focused on Polynesian voyaging. Richly illustrated with paintings, photographs, and maps, it brings together the major threads: oral traditions, canoe design, navigational methods, theories of settlement. Most of the content can be found elsewhere, but the presentation is impressive; if you wanted just one book to browse through, this would be a fun one to have.

From Christina's list on The best books on Polynesian history.