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Does it count as navigation if they didn't even know where they were going?
by oh_sigh 5y ago
Does it count as navigation if they didn't even know where they were going?
- thaumasiotes 5y agoYes, most places in the Pacific aren't islands.
- bombcar 5y agoI wonder how far from the islands a trained navigator could be and still notice them - via currents or birds or ?
- thaumasiotes 5y agoI believe islands form distinctive cloud patterns. Birds seem like a likely indicator too.
- bombcar 5y agoBeing able to see an island from 50 miles away would greatly increase the chance of finding it, even in an expanse as large as the ocean.
- EdwardDiego 5y agoPolynesian navigators used wave patterns to detect islands at a distance IIRC, and even created woven maps based on wave refraction.
- taneq 5y agoMaybe not if they only did it once but it was a pretty regular thing, no?
- EdwardDiego 5y agoHow do you know that the settlers who had packed a bunch of stuff to settle the new lands, didn't know where they were going?
- oh_sigh 5y agoWell, if I had to think of a relatively negative context, my suspicion would be that these missions were more about relieving population stress on an island rather than having a fair certainty that the mission would end in success. You send a party out, and if they make it - great. If they don't...well, at least your island has a little more living room now. Sort of like how medieval Europeans would have the firstborn inherit the kingdom, the second born maybe go into the church, and the rest maybe go crusading for glory in remote lands.