Comments by "Angry Kittens" (@AngryKittens) on "Exploring the Pacific - The Great Ocean - Extra History - Part 1" video.
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Klaidi Rubiku Austronesians invented the first true marine boats, back when other humans were still paddling in rivers and lakes. They innovated with multihull ships and outriggers, which westerners are now only discovering is far more efficient, faster, and stable than single-hull ships. They were the first to create sea trade routes, from Eastern Africa to Japan (the route the Chinese now call the "Maritime Silk Road"). They were the first to domesticate bananas, sugarcane, coconuts, and rice, among other staples. They also invented paddyfield farming technology, which was carried all the way to Madagascar and Hawaii.
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Alternate? LOL. They did. Madagascar was colonized by Austronesians from Borneo. Even today, the boat designs of the Malagasy are still identical to the Pacific Islander boats (single outrigger, crab-claw sail). This design later spread to mainland East Africa. Sri Lanka and India was also one of the first trade partners of Austronesians. Austronesians introduced plank-built ships, catamarans, outrigger boats, sugarcane, various spices, bananas, betel chewing, and Pacific-type coconuts to South Asia, and in return South Asia introduced technologies like textile weaving and religious and social mores like castes and Hinduism to Southeast Asia. The lateen sails of Arab/Indian dhows is also theorized to have been inspired by the similarly triangular crab claw sails of Austronesian ships. There is evidence of an Austronesian genetic substratum in the Maldives as well.
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@Intlfma You think other Austronesians didn't navigate? The trade routes from Japan to East Africa. The colonization of Madagascar. The seasonal trade routes between far Micronesia and near Micronesia (sometimes also reaching the eastern Philippines). They too navigated with the stars, the sun, the wind, and the ocean currents, visible land features (river mouths, small islands, specific mountains/hills, etc.), highly detailed nautical maps written on hides (which included details like reefs, sandbanks, etc. that European maps lacked), and stick charts. Ships had pilots. Non-Polynesian Austronesian languages also have terms for different seasonal wind directions, different constellations, directional currents, etc.
The navigator of the reconstructed Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hokule'a, was Mau Piailug. He is MICRONESIAN, an ethnic Satawalese from Yap, not Polynesian. Since Polynesian wayfinding is already extinct due to European suppression of traditional sailing.
Modern Europeans just somehow have this mistaken impression that only Polynesians were ancient sailors. Since the history of the other Austronesians have been buried under longer colonial rule, as well as recent cultural adoptions (like the adoption of foreign religions), which made it harder for Europeans to realize that these people are actually closely-related. This is reflected in popular history, in fiction, and even in games, where Polynesians are often depicted as the sole ancient maritime culture, with Islander Southeast Asians lumped with unrelated mainland Asians, and Malagasy lumped with unrelated East Africans. When the reality is that all of them are Austronesians, and all of them were uniquely sea-faring peoples.
Austronesian navigation is a common heritage of all Austronesians. As are outriggers/multi-hull ships, fore-and-aft crab claw and tanja sails, and the 5-part lashed lug boats. They are not exclusive to Polynesians. Polynesian sailing didn't magically appear out of nowhere.
The impression that the "greatest voyagers and navigators" in history only applies to Polynesians is misguided to say the least. When you zoom out a bit, you'll realize that Austronesians, as a whole (again, including Polynesians), colonized TWO OCEANS. Not one.
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@Intlfma Yes I am Austronesian. It's funny how you still refer to Austronesians as "them". When again, Polynesians are STILL Austronesians. Are you even a native Cook Islander? Or are you an immigrant there?
And yes, I am defending the rest of us, because Polynesians have always claimed everything about our common culture. Which you don't seem to understand, is degrading to us, as well.
You have never once, acknowledged the fact that the Mau Piailug, the navigator of the Hokule'a, is Micronesian. Or that there are other Austronesians in the Pacific.
The Cook Islands is just a short distance from Fiji. Do they not exist to you?
I'm not even sure. Do vaka still exist in the Cook Islands? Do people still use them for fishing or transport? Because in pretty much all other Austronesian cultures, traditional vessels are still very much in everyday regular use.
Instead of humbling yourself and acknowledging that wayfinding would never have been revived without the help of knowledge preserved by Micronesians. You instead double down in claiming no one else matters but your own culture.
It's like someone refusing to accept that they have a family, with siblings who are very much like them.
And you're doing this on a video series that explains the peopling of the Pacific by Austronesians. You're pushing everyone else out, for the sake of just Polynesians.
"but I seriously don’t care, the one thing that makes it different is that Polynesians were BETTER at navigating."
Yeah. It was obvious how you didn't care. You didn't watch the video series. You didn't read my longer replies. Why are we still talking?
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@Intlfma Yes, we Austronesians have diverged over the more or less 3000 years we've been separated from each other. It's the reason why we have subgroups in the first place: Polynesians, Micronesians, (Islander) Melanesians, Islander Southeast Asians, Native Taiwanese, and Malagasy. As well as different ethnic groups. You're a Cook Islander Māori, presumably, but you're not the same people as the Rapa Nui, or the Samoans, Tahitians, etc. You don't speak the same language, and you don't have the same culture. Though you're similar enough since the distance between your separation are only a few centuries. But that's not the point, is it?
The point is that we SHARE the technologies of outriggers, multi-hull, crab-claw sails and navigation techniques. Not just among Polynesians. But ALL Austronesians. ALL of us have it. ALL of us settled in islands (except the coastal Cham and peninsular Melayu). ALL of us are sea-faring peoples. ALL of us sailed. Some even at comparable distances to that Polynesians have sailed (the Borneo to Madagascar route for example).
The only exceptions being the Indigenous Taiwanese who stayed in Taiwan, like the Atayal, Rukai, Paiwan, etc. though even they retain ancient dugout canoes from which all our voyaging ships came from.
In your list, this would have been listed in the YESes. And not something you can claim is Polynesian alone.
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@Intlfma "Lima" is also how you say "five" in [Aboriginal] Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Guam and the Marianas, most of the Bismarck Archipelago, most of the [Austronesian parts of the] Solomon Islands and coastal New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, Pohnpei, Woleai, the eastern Caroline Islands, Fiji, Niue, Wallis and Futuna, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Hawaii.
The rest have variations of it. The most common is "Rima", which is YOUR word for "five".
Can you guess where I'm from now? Do you understand why I chose that word? Haha. It's a demonstration of connectedness.
The fact that you don't know this, tells me you really don't know much about other Austronesians. Which might be why it's hard for you to accept that Polynesians have a bigger family.
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