---
product_id: 137911903
title: "Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia Hardcover – Illustrated, March 12, 2019"
brand: "christina thompson"
price: "€ 27.17"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 11
url: https://www.desertcart.ie/products/137911903-sea-people-the-puzzle-of-polynesia-hardcover-illustrated-march-12
store_origin: IE
region: Ireland
---

# Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia Hardcover – Illustrated, March 12, 2019

**Brand:** christina thompson
**Price:** € 27.17
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia Hardcover – Illustrated, March 12, 2019 by christina thompson
- **How much does it cost?** € 27.17 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ie](https://www.desertcart.ie/products/137911903-sea-people-the-puzzle-of-polynesia-hardcover-illustrated-march-12)

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    A comprehensive and eloquent work - almost perfect
  

*by A***R on Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2024*

I had not read on Polynesians before and having been prompted to curiosity by a family member, I purchased this book. I have read many, many history books in my life and this one must be in the top 5 best Ive ever read. She stays so focused on such a foggy and easily side-trackable topic, but it never once felt over-analyzed. The categories of writing, the cohesive flow, and the careful bias are appreciated and engaging. The thorough citing of sources and not over-sensationalizing stories (abysmally present flaws in todays history authors), were a breath of the freshest air. If there wasn't info, she basically said "we don't know" - another nearly impossible sentence for historians to utter. I honestly feel that she couldn't have done a better job - truly a masterpiece, and worth reading by Polynesian history pros and noobs.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    They Ruled the Pacific Islands FIRST
  

*by C***N on Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2019*

I recollect as well today as if it were yesterday, the beautiful, glossy black hair of the few Polynesian girls who were enrolled in my high school during the 1960s. I remember my daydream adventures touring the islands and of reading, with fascination, of Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki. Then, too, I recollect my three trips to Hawaii – one by air, two by sea. My third trip was for three months, serving aboard USS Sperry, a sub tender. I was miserable and distraught during that time – married for only a year and my first born delivered while I was in Hawaii – too upset to enjoy my sojourn, my two trips off base were to a used bookstore in Pearl Harbor and one hike into the hills adjacent to the naval base. So, what about this book?Well, that little prelude may help you understand my profound disappointment that I failed to take full advantage of my three months or so in America’s 50th state. After reading the Kindle, and listening to the Audible editions of “Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia,” I realize one of my very few profound regrets. Had I then the insight provided by this exploration of the peopling of so vast a territory as that solely inhabited by the Polynesians, I would have visited every square mile of the Sandwich Islands comprising Hawaii.EXCERPT 1: ‘…This is what is meant by the Polynesian Triangle, an area of ten million square miles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean defined by the three points of Hawai‘i, New Zealand, and Easter Island. All the islands inside this triangle were originally settled by a clearly identifiable group of voyagers: a people with a single language and set of customs, a particular body of myths, a distinctive arsenal of tools and skills, and a “portmanteau biota” of plants and animals that they carried with them wherever they went. They had no knowledge of writing or metal tools—no maps or compasses—and yet they succeeded in colonizing the largest ocean on the planet, occupying every habitable rock between New Guinea and the Galápagos, and establishing what was, until the modern era, the largest single culture area in the world…’Thompson, Christina. Sea People (p. 9). Harper. Kindle Edition.Mull that point over for a bit. Allow it to ruminate. Then, consider the ramifications: A single ethnic group, the Polynesians, developed a culture and language that survived, intact, throughout the islands from, and including, New Zealand, Hawaii, and the islands just off the coast of South America and extending westward to Madagascar. With only minor permutations, words used at one extreme could be spoken and understood at the other.I also now understand why Heyerdahl’s theory of an American origin for Polynesians was not even remotely possible. As the author suggests, though, I am still puzzled by the presence of the sweet potato on many of those islands. If not transported by people of the America’s then how did it get to the islands?To fully understand the above enigma and why it might matter, and to fully grasp the significance posed by all of the above statements, you may find “Sea People” an enormously valuable aid. Possibly, you will be spurred, as was I, into purchasing a copy of James Michener’s debut novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Tales of the South Pacific,” and his two later books, “Hawaii” and “Return To Paradise.” For sure, I will keep each of these four books together, either on my bookshelf or in my Kindle library.BLUSH FACTOR: Only the mildest of curses makes even a rare appearance in this nonfiction work. I believe this is the ideal book to share with anyone you wish, regardless of age, sex, religious persuasion or ethnicity. Only good can come from the experience.WRITING & EDITING: The early chapters were a little slow, but each page was necessary to keep the overall story in context. Editing is superb.EXCERPT:I have chosen only to include a single paragraph used to support the statement in the second paragraph of this review.BOTTOM LINE:I want to rate it five stars, but, honestly, due to a slow start and due to some redundancies, I just can’t. While it is certainly better than four stars, it just is not quite five stars. Perhaps what is missing is photographs? And a little deeper discussion of the peopling of Madagascar?Four stars out of five.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Summaries of latest theories of migrations across Oceania
  

*by D***V on Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2019*

Book delivered fairly quickly. I knew it was only recently published, but I was surprised the book was shipped from New Zealand.I really enjoyed reading the information in this book. I lived for four years in Hawaii, spanning the time of the Hokulea voyage to Tahiti, in 1976, and was also amazed at the innovative construction of old canoes in the Bishop museum. I've had an interest in the migrations, canoes, and ancient navigation methods of the Pacific  ever since then, and have read many books on those topics over the years.Sea People, I think, is a nice condensed collection of the information I've read in many other books. But it also contains some of the latest theories of where, when, how and why people found their way across the Pacific islands. And of the impact from contact with people from Europe and other information I had not read about before.Names and times of first finding of different islands by  different explorers from Europe: Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, British, American, Russian, etc. Environmental and cultural changes caused by contact is written about.The Europeans brought diseases that people had no immunity to to the Caribbean islands.  The native peoples there had traded with the people of Central and South America for centuries before the Europeans arrived, they brought  the European diseases with them to Central and South America during their trade journeys. The result being that in many areas 80% of the native people died before the Europeans ever arrived there. The farther result was ancient and large cities were overgrown by the jungles, and the very existence of those cities became myths. Much of their ancient culture died with them.  Westerners did not believe the rumored large cities ever existed. After-all the people they found living there when the Europeans finally arrived were living a stone age existence. And the nature of the land didn't make it possible.  Therefore, they reasoned, they must be an inferior people.That attitude lead the  Europeans to believe the native  people couldn't have created great cities that were larger and more densely populated than London, Madrid or Paris. But they had. Those cities have only in recent years been  found by LIDAR searches, as recounted in books such as: "Jungleland", by Christopher Stewart. Or "Lost City of Z", by David Grann.The same prejudice was held about the Pacific Islanders. That they were a stone age people, and culture. They couldn't have had the ingenuity, technology, or abilities greater than their own ocean exploration methods. But they did.Captain Cook was the first to recognize the same culture existed from New Zealand, to Easter Island, to Hawaii. A single culture that covered more of the earth than any other culture known about at the time. Somewhat similar canoe-form watercraft, and navigation methods also  existed in Melanesia, and Micronesia.Cook was greatly aided by a Tahitian priest/ navigator named Tupaia, who showed him the way many islands and helped him receive a friendly reception on many islands in the western Pacific. Tupaia drew Cook a now famous map. Only there was some confusion about the location of the islands. Because they had different concepts about navigation. Western maps were a bird's eye view looking down. The Polynesians had never thought about locations in that way. Tupaia's view was a horizontal view. Looking outward from the deck of a voyaging canoe. More like driving directions than a western map on a grid.How they did it has been a mystery for hundreds of years. Methods to determine from where, how,  when, and why have changed with available archeology techniques over the years. DNA being one method now added to language, material culture, religious beliefs. One interesting twist is, that naturally native peoples object to the bones of their ancestors being exhumed and studied.But no one objects to the bones of the Pacific rat being studied. The Pacific rat will not interbreed with rats brought to the islands on European ships. Tracking the changes in the rat DNA (or other animals taken to colonize new islands, such as hogs, and chickens)  can reveal if only one voyage was made (an accident due being blown away by a storm) to an island group or if multiple voyages were made over hundreds of years. Evidence of repeated voyages, done on purpose. Another part of the mystery is why were sweat potatoes found cultivated on so many islands that had not yet had contact with Europeans. I think the Polynesians must have found and visited S. America. An easy find if they could find Easter Island and Hawaii.  Migrations are also trying to be documented by tracing the DNA of sweat potatoes. But that method is complicated by other varieties of sweat potatoes brought to the islands by the Spanish from their base ports in S. America.Some European ships came looking for riches, other expeditions' goals were only for exploration to find new lands and people. Certainly the whaling industry had a huge impact. I knew that whaling was big business in the 19th century. I had no idea that in the 1840s / 50s, at any one time 600 ~ 700 whaling ships were in the Pacific.It seems many Polynesians today blame Captain Cook or other Europeans for ending their trans-Pacific voyaging. But I think the evidence indicates that no voyages by the Polynesians had been made between Hawaii, Tahiti or New Zealand for 200 ~ 500 years before Capt Cook. But if you're living in Hawaii, why risk your life on a long ocean voyage? You may only need retain the ability to navigate to the other Hawaiian islands. Chiefs wanting to consolidate power may also have prohibited voyages to other Polynesian islands. To prevent an enemy recruiting assistance from distant islands.Fortunately the old ancient Pacific methods of navigation via star compass, the interaction of ocean ground swells, wind directions prevailing in different seasons, or Etak, have been preserved, still continuously practiced actually, in the more remote islands of the western Pacific. Places or  islands that did not attract much attention from the rest of the world. Too small to support a large population, not much to be exploited to increase wealth.The why of their motivation to find new islands may have been due to war, prestige, just curiosity or other reasons.I think two westerners sum up the greatest motivation for long ocean voyages.  Joshua Slocum, stated, "To a young man contemplating a voyage. I say go." And French aviator and author, Antoine de Saint Exupery, wrote, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood, and don't assign them task, and work. But rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."And that's what the Polynesians did, and, I think,  Christian Thompson has presented an interesting collection of information, the latest theories,  about the mystery of who they were, where they were from, when, why, and how they spread across the Pacific.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia
- We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific (Second Edition)
- Vaka Moana, Voyages of the Ancestors: The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific

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*Last updated: 2026-02-26*