The Origin of what is now commonly known as the Sweet Potato

For many years, researches and scientists have speculated that ancient Pacific Island voyagers may have reached the shores of South America. Indeed, Arthur Grimble (later Sir Arthur Grimble), in an article in 'National Geographic Magazine' of January 1943, mentions a tradition among the Micronesian people of the Gilbert Islands (now the Republic of Kiribati), that one of their early adventurers reached the shores of the American continent, more than 4,500 miles away.

The stories tell of one Raakau, the greatest of all Gilbertese navigators who reported a land that stretched along the eastern edge of the ocean, to northward without end, and to the southward without end. It was said that this land lies beyond the farthest eastward islands and it was a wall of mountains up against the place where the sun rises, standing over plains full of fertility. There is only one littoral in the Pacific that can be said to fit this description, and that is the western coast of the American continent.

In addition, the late Professor Roland B. Dixon was convinced that the sweet potato reached Polynesia from America by the aid of human hands. He also concluded that the transference of the plant was carried out by Polynesians who had reached the Peruvian coast and had taken the valuable plant back with them to their island home. The Peruvian coast was specified because, in the Kechua dialet of north Peru, the name for the sweet potato is "kumar" and, in the Polynesian name for the plant is "kumara".

In this respect, it is most interesting to see that a paper that recently appeared in the prestigious 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Science' provides the first hard evidence supporting the view that Polynesians did, in fact, sail all the way to the west coast of the American continent, at least a century before the arrival of Columbus.

The key to this breakthrough was chicken bones found in Chile which were radiocarbon dated as approximately 600 years old. DNA testing revealed that the bones carried a rare mutation otherwise only found in chickens from Mele Havea, Tonga, and Fatu-ma-Futi, American Samoa. This evidence clearly indicates a pattern of interaction between Polynesians, long recognized as some of the world's finest sailors and navigators in times preceding Western contact, and South Americans. To put it simply, Polynesians not only made it to America before Columbus, but they apparently introduced the chicken to the continent, as well, with these fowls having a DNA identical to chickens found in Tonga and Tutuila, Samoa.

Another interesting story relating to Polynesian voyagers comes from the study of the chemistry of ancient basalt adzes found in the Tuamotus in the 1930s. Scientists from the University of Queensland, in Australia, have definitely traced one of them to the island of Kahoolawe. The research, published in the Journal 'Science', confirms the view that ancient voyagers came to Hawaii from what is now French Polynesia, and then returned.

Indeed, the early legends from Hawaii recount many voyages to and from Tahiti. In sailing south, the course was maintained by keeping the North Star directly astern. When the North Star sank into the sea, the star Newe was taken as the southern guide and the constellation of Humu was overhead. The last voyager mentioned in Hawaiian traditions was the priest Paao, who arrived from Ra'iatea in about 1275 A.D.

In any event, it is pleasing to see that the modern scientific tools of DNA analysis and chemical testing are confirming so many of the early oral traditions of Pacific Island people. They are also confirming the view that the Polynesians are some of the finest canoe builders, sailors and navigators that the world has ever known.

You are invited to visit Jane Resture's Oceania Blog at:
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Our Pacific Ocean - About Rubbish

Welcome everybody to Jane's blog where you are invited to share your thoughts and experiences about our beautiful Pacific Ocean. I do not want to start out on a negative note, however, I would like to thank those people who have written in expressing concern about the amount of litter that they have encountered in various parts of the Pacific.These comments are of particular concern in the light of recent reports describing the Pacific Ocean as the world's largest rubbish dump - a vast area of floating plastic debris and other flotsam drifting in the northern Pacific Ocean, held there by swirling ocean currents.

Often referred to as the great Pacific garbage patch, it is now alarming some with its ever-growing size and possible impact on human health.The "patch" is, in fact, two huge linked areas of circulating rubbish, stretching from about 500 nautical miles off the coast of California, across the northern Pacific to near the coast of Japan. Almost twice the size as continental United States, the islands of Hawaii are placed almost in the middle, so piles of plastic are regularly washed up on some beaches there. The concentration of floating plastic debris just beneath the ocean's surface is the product of underwater currents, which conspire to bring together all the junk - an estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic - that accumulates in the Pacific Ocean. Studies have indicated that about 20 per cent of the junk is thought to come from marine craft, while the rest originates from countries around the Pacific like Mexico, Australia and China. The waste forms in what are called tropical gyres - areas where the oceans slowly circulate due to extreme high pressure systems and where there is little wind. Historically, flotsam in the gyres has biodegraded..But modern plastics do not break down like other oceanic debris, meaning objects half a century old have been found in the North Pacific Gyre. Rather the plastic slowly photodegrades, becoming brittle and disintegrating into smaller and smaller pieces which enter the food chain and end up in the stomachs of birds and other animals. This is certainly a very sorry state of affairs as the small plastic particles acted like a sponge to trap many dangerous man-made chemicals that found their way into the ocean, like hydrocarbons and DDT. Eventually what goes into the ocean goes into the animals and eventually enters the human food chain exposing people worldwide to possible serious longer term health problems. Indeed syringes, cigarette lighters and tooth brushes from the "patch" have been found inside the carcases of sea birds.

The health of our planet depends upon many factors including the health of our vast Pacific Ocean. Certainly, the health of this beautiful Ocean cannot be improved if it continues to be used as nothing more than a convenient garbage dump.

You are invited to visit Jane Resture's Oceania Blog at:
http://janeresturesoceaniablog.blogspot.com/

For further infomation, you are also invited to check out the following Domains:
www.janeresture.com
www.janesoceania.com
www.ourpacificocean.com
www.pacificislandsradio.com