Some outsiders dismissed Pacific settlement as accidental because navigation seemed impossible
Evidence
For a long time, some outsiders insisted Pacific islands must have been settled ‘by accident’ — by canoes blown off course — because they could not believe such navigation was possible. The Hokule’a was sailed partly to refute that. How can a voyage be an argument? — , A Year of World Stories, 12450
Categorization
- XREF: Parallels the pattern in my notes where non-Western technical achievements were doubted until physically demonstrated — akin to Tempels and African philosophical capacity. — connects to: Hokule’a’s 1976 voyage proved deliberate Pacific settlement by wayfinding — , A Year of World Stories, 12448
- SEED: Seed for an essay: ‘voyages as arguments’ — how demonstration, not testimony, has historically been the only proof accepted for non-Western competence.