Pathway of the Birds

In Pathway of the Birds, natural history writer Andrew Crowe explores how Polynesian navigators managed to find and re-find incredibly small and remote targets scattered across the Pacific Ocean, voyaging from island to island in double-hulled canoes and carrying with them everything required to settle a new home. One of the most expansive and rapid phases of human migration in prehistory, told with clarity and wonder.

Drawing together navigation, natural history, archaeology and oral tradition, Crowe reconstructs the voyaging achievements of Māori and their Polynesian ancestors, and the deep observational knowledge of stars, swells, winds and birds that guided them. As Hawaiian master navigator Nainoa Thompson explains: "Everything you need to navigate is in nature. The question is, can you see it?"

The result is a book that bridges academic research and the general reader, a lucid and authoritative saga of exploration, seafaring and settlement across the largest ocean on Earth.

Inside this book:

• The methods of traditional Polynesian wayfinding, reading nature to navigate
• The double-hulled canoes and the materials carried for successful settlement
• The environments and resources of ancient Polynesia
• How navigators located small and remote islands across vast distances
• Comprehensively referenced, generously illustrated

Ideal for readers interested in Aotearoa cultural history, Māori history, navigational and maritime history, Pacific exploration and seafaring.