stackyFACTSEuropean explorers were nervously hugging coastlines while Polynesian navigators like Kupe were crossing thousands of miles of open ocean using nothing but their brains.
European explorers were nervously hugging coastlines while Polynesian navigators like Kupe were crossing thousands of miles of open ocean using nothing but their brains. By reading the precise refraction of waves bouncing off invisible islands and tracking the complex migration paths of specific seabirds, Kupe mapped out Aotearoa (New Zealand). It was a staggering feat of mental calculus that makes modern GPS look painfully lazy.
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