02039cam a2200313 i 4500 1262024007 TxAuBib 190301s2019||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 9780062060877 0062060872 (OCoLC)12748 TxAuBib rda Thompson, Christina, 1959-, author. Sea people : the puzzle of Polynesia / Christina Thompson. Puzzle of Polynesia. First edition. New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2019] xvi, 365 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 24 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Maps on lining papers. Includes bibliographical references (pages [325]-348) and index. For more than a millennium, Polynesians have occupied the remotest islands in the Pacific Ocean, a vast triangle stretching from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. How did the earliest Polynesians find and colonize these far-flung islands? How did a people without writing or metal tools conquer the largest ocean in the world? For author Christina Thompson, this mystery is personal: her Maori husband and their sons descend directly from these ancient navigators. In Sea People, Thompson explores the fascinating story of these ancestors, as well as those of the many sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists, and geographers who have puzzled over this history for three hundred years. A mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation, Sea People combines the thrill of exploration with the drama of discovery in a tour of one of the most captivating regions in the world. Polynesians History. Navigation Polynesia History. Polynesia Discovery and exploration.