Pacific Developments

In 1976, native Hawaiians and others sailed theHōkūle‘a,a replica of a Polynesian twin-hulled voyaging canoe, using only traditional navigational techniques, to and from Tahiti, two thousand miles in each direction. In doing so, they demonstrated the feasibility of earlier large-scale migrations by canoe throughout the Pacific. Equally important, their actions helped unite many indigenous Pacific peoples in a consciousness of their common heritage. Some fifteen thousand celebrants met theHōkūle‘awhen she entered Tahiti’s Pape‘ete harbor the first time. “Now you have returned,” observed one orator addressing the canoe’s crew members in a reference to the ancient Polynesian