The Discovery of the Pacific Islands

What is on the map

• 3 Already inhabited for forty thousand years
• 10 Out of Taiwan, 3000-1500 BC
• 9 Micronesia, 1500 BC - AD 200
• 5 Into the empty ocean: the Lapita crossing, 1100-1000 BC
• 7 Western Polynesia, 900-500 BC
• 11 Eastern Polynesia, AD 1000-1200
• 6 The three corners, AD 1100-1300

Chronology

1. 1 January 2,999 BCNew Guinea: people have lived here for forty thousand years already. Nothing about what follows is a discovery hereevent▸
2. 1 January 2,999 BCThe Bismarck Archipelago, settled since the Ice Age — and the launching place of everything that comes nextevent▸
3. 1 January 2,999 BCThe Solomons, the last land anyone had reached: beyond them the ocean was empty of peopleevent▸
4. 1 January 2,999 BCTaiwan, where every language spoken from Madagascar to Easter Island beginsevent▸
5. 1 January 2,199 BCBatanes is reachedevent▸
6. 1 January 1,999 BCLuzon: the first open-water crossing, and the outrigger that makes the rest possibleevent▸
7. 1 January 1,849 BCPalawan is reachedevent▸
8. 1 January 1,799 BCMindanao is reachedevent▸
9. 1 January 1,649 BCSulawesi is reachedevent▸
10. 1 January 1,599 BCBorneo is reachedevent▸
11. 1 January 1,549 BCHalmahera is reachedevent▸
12. 1 January 1,499 BCJava is reachedevent▸
13. 1 January 1,499 BCThe Marianas: two thousand six hundred kilometres of open sea from the Philippines, the longest crossing anyone had ever madeevent▸
14. 1 January 1,449 BCTimor is reachedevent▸
15. 1 January 1,099 BCThe Santa Cruz Islands: the threshold. From here on every island is one no human eye has seenevent▸
16. 1 January 1,049 BCVanuatu. At Teouma the Lapita bury their dead without heads, and leave the pottery that gives the whole expansion its nameevent▸
17. 1 January 999 BCPalau is reachedevent▸
18. 1 January 999 BCNew Caledonia is reachedevent▸
19. 1 January 999 BCFiji, a thousand kilometres beyond Vanuatuevent▸
20. 1 January 949 BCRotuma is reachedevent▸
21. 1 January 899 BCTonga: at Nukuleka, the oldest securely dated settlement in Polynesiaevent▸
22. 1 January 799 BCSamoa. And here everything stopsevent▸
23. 1 January 749 BCWallis and Futuna is reachedevent▸
24. 1 January 699 BCNiue is reachedevent▸
25. 1 January 549 BCTuvalu is reachedevent▸
26. 1 January 499 BCTokelau is reachedevent▸
27. 1 January 199 BCYap is reachedevent▸
28. 1 January 100Kosrae is reachedevent▸
29. 1 January 150Marshall Islands is reachedevent▸
30. 1 January 150Pohnpei is reachedevent▸
31. 1 January 200Chuuk Lagoon is reachedevent▸
32. 1 January 200Gilbert Islands is reachedevent▸
33. 1 January 250Nauru is reachedevent▸
34. 1 January 400For eighteen hundred years no one sails further east. The canoes are there, the skill is there — and the map stops. Nobody knows whyevent▸
35. 1 January 1000The Cook Islands. After eighteen centuries of nothing, the voyaging starts again — and this time it takes two hundred years to find everythingevent▸
36. 1 January 1025The Society Islands. Raiatea becomes the place the others sail from, and rememberevent▸
37. 1 January 1050The Marquesas, the nursery of the eastern Pacific: the canoes for Hawaii and Rapa Nui leave from hereevent▸
38. 1 January 1075Austral Islands is reachedevent▸
39. 1 January 1100Tuamotus is reachedevent▸
40. 1 January 1125Gambier Islands is reachedevent▸
41. 1 January 1150Pitcairn Islands is reachedevent▸
42. 1 January 1150Hawaii: four thousand kilometres north, across the equator, out of sight of everything. The northern cornerevent▸
43. 1 January 1175Henderson Island is reachedevent▸
44. 1 January 1200Line Islands is reachedevent▸
45. 1 January 1200Phoenix Islands is reachedevent▸
46. 1 January 1200Rapa Nui, the eastern corner: the most isolated inhabited place on earth, found by people steering with stars, swells and birdsevent▸
47. 1 January 1225Rapa Iti is reachedevent▸
48. 1 January 1250Kermadec Islands is reachedevent▸
49. 1 January 1260Norfolk Island is reachedevent▸
50. 1 January 1280Aotearoa, the southern corner and the last large landmass on earth to be settled by anyone. The voyaging is overevent▸
51. 1 January 1500The Chatham Islands, eight hundred and forty kilometres into the cold: the last islands found, and the end of the longest journey our species has madeevent▸

Routes and campaigns

• 1 January 2,259 BCOut of Taiwan
• 1 January 2,059 BCBatanes to Luzon
• 1 January 1,909 BCLuzon to Palawan
• 1 January 1,859 BCLuzon to Mindanao
• 1 January 1,709 BCMindanao to Sulawesi
• 1 January 1,659 BCPalawan to Borneo
• 1 January 1,609 BCSulawesi to Halmahera
• 1 January 1,559 BCBorneo to Java
• 1 January 1,559 BCStraight across two thousand six hundred kilometres of open sea
• 1 January 1,509 BCSulawesi to Timor
• 1 January 1,159 BCPast the last known land
• 1 January 1,099 BCSanta Cruz Islands to Vanuatu
• 1 January 1,059 BCHalmahera to Palau
• 1 January 1,049 BCVanuatu to New Caledonia
• 1 January 1,049 BCVanuatu to Fiji
• 1 January 999 BCFiji to Rotuma
• 1 January 959 BCFiji to Tonga
• 1 January 859 BCTonga to Samoan Islands
• 1 January 799 BCSamoan Islands to Wallis and Futuna
• 1 January 759 BCTonga to Niue
• 1 January 609 BCSamoan Islands to Tuvalu
• 1 January 559 BCSamoan Islands to Tokelau
• 1 January 259 BCPalau to Yap
• 1 January 40Vanuatu to Kosrae
• 1 January 100Kosrae to Pohnpei
• 1 January 100Kosrae to Marshall Islands
• 1 January 150Pohnpei to Chuuk Lagoon
• 1 January 150Marshall Islands to Gilbert Islands
• 1 January 200Gilbert Islands to Nauru
• 1 January 940Eighteen centuries later, east at last
• 1 January 1000Cook Islands to Society Islands
• 1 January 1025Society Islands to Marquesas Islands
• 1 January 1025Society Islands to Austral Islands
• 1 January 1040Society Islands to Tuamotus
• 1 January 1090North across the equator, four thousand kilometres
• 1 January 1100Tuamotus to Gambier Islands
• 1 January 1125Gambier Islands to Pitcairn Islands
• 1 January 1140Marquesas Islands to Line Islands
• 1 January 1140Gilbert Islands to Phoenix Islands
• 1 January 1140Gambier Islands to Easter Island
• 1 January 1150Pitcairn Islands to Henderson Island
• 1 January 1165Austral Islands to Rapa Iti
• 1 January 1190Society Islands to Kermadec Islands
• 1 January 1220South-west into colder water than anyone had sailed
• 1 January 1250Kermadec Islands to Norfolk Island
• 1 January 1440The last voyage

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