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Antarctica may have been discovered 1,100 years before it was “discovered” by Westerners.

Vaagisha Singh

The first human to discover Antarctica New research suggests that he was not a sailor Westerner, but a Polynesian who found the coldest continent 1300 years ago.

New Zealand researchers have evaluated the oral history of Polynesian explorers spying on icy mountainous continents unaffected by the sun. To find evidence, they screened “gray literature,” or historical reports that were not published in peer-reviewed journals, and integrated them with indigenous oral history and artwork. According to most historical reports, a deep dive into the history of indigenous peoples suggests that Polynesians discovered the southernmost continent for more than a thousand years before Westerners first discovered the continent in 1820. It became clear.

“The connection between Maori (and Polynesia) and Antarctica and its waters is part of the story of Antarctica. [the] Researchers said that after the first arrival of Westerners in Antarctica in the 19th century, a small number of Maori voyages, as crew members and even medical professionals, despite widespread prejudice against indigenous peoples at the time. He said he had joined.

Antarctica has avoided humans for a long time. The ancient Greeks theorized that Antarctica exists because it is likely that a lower continent will be needed to balance the Arctic Circle in the Northern Hemisphere. According to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) New York City. The Greeks named this fictional continent “Antarktikos”, or the land “on the other side of Arktos”, the bear-shaped constellations of the north (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor).

Ocean explorers sought to find Antarctica, including Captain James Cook in the 1700s, especially during the Age of Discovery in the 1400s and 1600s. But none of them succeeded. According to most history books, Antarctica was first discovered in 1820, but it is unknown who first saw it. It could have been a Russian Navy officer, a Royal Navy officer, or an American sealed captain. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

However, according to a new survey, it was published online on June 6th. Royal Society Te Ap?rang, These Westerners were latecomers.

According to an oral history of 1,300 years ago on previous dates from various Maori groups, Polynesian explorer Hui Te Rangiora (also known as ?i Te Rangiora) and his crew boarded the ship Te Ivi o Atea to the Antarctic Ocean. I sailed. , A Conservation Biologist at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and a colleague wrote in this study.

“In some stories, Hoi te Rangiora and his crew followed south, far south,” the researchers write. “In doing so, they were probably the first humans to look at the Antarctic Ocean and perhaps the continent.”

If this early 600s date is correct, researchers say that indigenous explorers discovered Antarctica, even before the Maori arrived in New Zealand between 1200 and 1300. At that time, Maori ancestors lived in Polynesia.

A wooden pillar engraved with the Maori symbol overlooking the Ross Ice Shelf, standing at Scott Base in Antarctica. (Image credit: Wehi, PMetal. Journal0047 Royal Society of New Zealand (2021))

Researchers write that the results of indigenous Pacific voyages are “widely recognized.”For example, New Zealand ethnographer Elsdon Best has a Maori tribe. Late 1800s to early 1900s Researchers have found that Maori crossed the Pacific Ocean as easily as Western explorers crossed the lake.

The team looked at the Maori name “Tetai Uka Apia” and found supporting evidence. “Thailand” means “sea”, “Uka” means “ice”, and “Apia” looks like snow when rubbed, according to “Arrowroot” 1899 report By ethnologist S. Percy Smith.

In his report, Smith wrote how he wanted to see the amazing sights Maori reported to have been seen by voyagers aboard the Te Ivi o Atea. These “wonderful things” include “rocks growing from the sea …; huge seas; women living in the waves of those mountains, their bunches sway in the water and on the surface of the sea; and the frozen sea”. Was included. The pier is deeply lurking with deceived animals from the sea. It’s a foggy, foggy, dark place that you can’t see from the sun, “Smith writes. “Others are rock-like, their tops pierce the sky, they are completely naked and there is no vegetation on them.”

Smith writes that this mysterious place was probably Antarctica. The “bundle in the giant waves” was probably Brukelp in the Antarctic Ocean, but other explanations may depict marine mammals and icebergs that Polynesian explorers have never seen.

Scientists have historically not relied on the indigenous sources used in this study, such as oral traditions and sculptures, but the practice has become more common. Smithsonian magazine.. For example, Stephen Augustin, Genetic Head of the Mi’kmaq Council and Vice President of Cape Breton University’s Indigenous Affairs and Unamaki University in Nova Scotia, Canada, explains how oral history is preserved among Mi’kmaq. I explained if it was done.

“When each elder spoke, they were aware that the other elders would serve as” reviewers. ” [and so] They didn’t delve into the suspicious subject. ” He wrote.. “… they had to go back to the teachings of their parents, grandparents, and even their great-grandparents. These teachings were shared in circles and formed a reconnaissance of collective memory and knowledge.”

Wehi et al. Also recorded Maori involvement in exploring the western part of Antarctica. From the 18th to the 19th centuries, researchers wrote in their studies that “Europe’s momentum to discover, explore and name unexplored regions of the world is increasing.” “These expeditions were facilitated by nationalism, economic opportunism, political and scientific interests.” But, except in some notable cases, for example, the legacy of a few crew members and Maori. Maori was often excluded when even doctors with had participated in various European voyages to the South Pole.

Maori scientists are currently conducting research in Antarctica, and the artwork for Maori cultural symbols is near the research station. However, researchers still have more work to do in this study to understand “how Antarctica works for the lives and future of indigenous and other undervalued communities.”

Originally published in Live Science.

Antarctica may have been discovered 1,100 years before it was “discovered” by Westerners.

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