Native Astronomy in Micronesia: a Rudimentary Science

Goodenough, W. (1951). "Native Astronomy in Micronesia: a Rudimentary Science". The Scientific Monthly. 73 (2): 105–110. doi:10.2307/20501.

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Abstract: Early in the first world war the German governor of Truk in the Caroline Islands found himself unable to communicate with his superiors, all German shipping in the area hav- ing stopped. It happened that a canoe from Pulu- wat, ninety miles to the west, stopped in on a trad- ing trip. At his interpreter's suggestion, the governor asked its navigator if he could get to headquarters on Ponape, 300 miles to the east. The navigator said he had never been there but was confident he could manage it. Not many days later he was back with replies to the governor's letters. The governor could well marvel that a simple loincloth-clad native could so confidently sail to a strange place without compass or chart and make the requisite landfall with pinpoint pre- cision; the native, however, was merely applying a systematic body of knowledge of which he had to be master in order to qualify as a professional navigator. Astronomy formed a crucial part of this knowledge.

The more we know of it, the more interesting native astronomy in Oceania becomes as an ex- ample of a primitive science. Unlike the ancient astronomies of the Near East and Middle America, which were developed in. response to the practical needs of agriculture, this one was stimulated by the exigencies of long-distance voyaging...

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OpenAlex: W1624223690
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