The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific - PREVIEW

Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/navigators.html Over 1,000 years ago, the islands of Polynesia were explored and settled by navigators who used only the waves, the stars, and the flights of birds for guidance. In hand-built, double-hulled canoes sixty feet long, the ancestors of today's Polynesians sailed across a vast ocean area, larger than Europe and North America combined.

To explore this ancient navigational heritage, anthropologist/filmmaker Sanford Low visited the tiny coral atoll of Satawal in Micronesia's remote Caroline Islands. The Navigators reveals the subtleties of this sea science, transmitted in part through a ceremony known as "unfolding the mat," in which 32 lumps of coral are arranged in a circle to represent the points of the "star compass." To master the lore of navigation was to attain great status in traditional Micronesian society.

a film by Sanford Low
distributed by Documentary Educational Resources

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Micronesia
• Polynesia
• ocean
• canoe
• boating
• navigation
• history
• ceremony
• anthropology
• documentary

[ycats1000]

wow you actually got fottage of Mau Piailug!!

thats amazing, is this for sale?

[docued]

Yes, the purchase link is in the video description.

[ihcug90]

this video is definitely worth getting.

[Tomorrowsleis]

Not many know this but celestial navigation still existed even when Mau Piailug (a resident/local native from Satawal, Yap) went to Hawaii to teach a part of our culture with the polynesians. This was and still is a sacred part of the people of Yap. This was one reason why not many wanted to go out of Yap to teach it. Yes, the people of Yap are thankful for Mau's contributions. When Hokulea's trip to Japan, was being towed by a modern sea vessel, that was a blow to everything Mau taught/wished.

[85darson]

Micronesians are great navigators so is our brothers of Polynesia

[hamogunjafarmer]

Yes, the legendary Mau. RIP friend. Thanks for reviving Polynesian Navigation. Manuia!

[federai24]

yeah.. and we still do believe in magic...

[BKuchau]

Thank you. Fantastic. Admirable, the beauty and the intelligence of the brave people who set out on these journeys.

[vacuuming]

i love watching this movie in the field museum!