Māori star compass

Te kapehu whetū – the Māori star compass – divides the 360 degrees around a canoe in the open ocean into different whare (houses). The location of these houses depends on where the sun, moon and stars set and rise. The navigator attempts to keep the canoe on a course relative to these observations.

Using this item

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

All images & media in this story

Comments

Trevor S
11 November 2022

There seems to be a rather basic assumption missing at the base of Brett's comments. That there was no prior knowledge of marine navigation prior to the great Maori migration. Mankind has been navigating the seas for over a thousand years. It would be a vulgar over simplification to assume that Maori had neither their own sailing and navigation knowledge or that they had no contact with navigators of other island nations.

Oz
28 May 2020

I wish I had seen your comment earlier Brett, as you are asking for written evidence from an oral based culture. To say that is 'stone age' does not accurately reflect the wisdom stored within the stories of Maori. 'Scientific' is just a stringent method of proving and testing hypothesis afterall. If you think it is a stone age methodology you are probably not realising that the knowledge base is instilled early on and Maori did not just navigate the sea but also the land by knowing their natural environment intrinsically? It is stated through Polynesian wisdom that there was an early understanding that the earth is round due to the circumnavigation of the night sky stars. The first peoples of Australia as another example understood how to manage the landscape long before european occupation using fire as their tool. Now it would be hard to argue in this day, that their wisdom was not a science. Just because something isn't written within a document does not mean that the knowledge did not exist. Try sources like Tatai Arorangi if you want to know more about astromical knowledge

Brett
20 June 2017

I have read with great scepticism how Maori were great navigators of the Pacific. I would love to have a technical discussion regarding how specific obstacles were overcome. While I certainly have an open mind I fear I will come up against PC explanations which simply do not stack up in the face of logic. Can anyone give me scientific explanations for the following: 1. Pre European Maori were living in the stone age, they had no written language. I have seen very elaborate drawings of star charts and 'canoe compasses' etc. If true then where are the ORIGINALS? If they did indeed exist they would have been very important and valued documents and stored safely, also there would have been hundreds of them, so where are they? Also, Maori had no paper so what were they written on? 2. In order to construct a working compass you need a metal needle (to find magnetic north) since Maori were living in the stone age how did they achieve this? 3. There is no evidence that Maori were able to navigate because they never went back eg they simply stayed in New Zealand. There is no evidence of trade routes etc. To sum this up I would simply say that European found Maori, not the other way around. 4. In order to navigate in open water with no land in sight there are several things you simply must know, one is what time of the day or night it is. Maori certainly did not have time pieces (stone age don't forget) so how did they navigate ACCURATLEY? It's one thing to say they used the stars or the sun, but that will only get you so far. If you try to navigate by a crude method of following the sun because you know it's in the general direction you want to go, over thousands of miles of ocean you will end up being hundreds of miles off course. Given that all Pacific Islands are no more than tiny dots in the ocean, this would have been problematic to say the least! The list goes on and on but lets start with that. Any factual to the point scientific answers gratefully received. Thanks Brett

Dok
07 April 2014

Col If your still looking? I had the same booklet on navigation calculations when lost found this link But its not the quite same a http://irithewitch.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/this-book-was-one-of-my-main-resources.html

Col
28 December 2013

Great site, do your people know anything about a coconut sextant, cut a 1/4 out, mark the summer + winter solstice and the equinox, fill with water to keep it level and the world is your oyster. My Dad about thirty years ago walked in with a black and white magazine/brochure called basic ocean navigation, it explained the basics of navigating by acknowledging how Polynesians moved over the pacific ocean,spoke of the handed down and local knowledge. Amazing stuff, would you please direct me to any mention of this

Change language

Story: Canoe navigation