Tupaia's chart of the Pacific islands
Mapa de Tupaia de las islas del Pacífico
- Date
- 1769 · confidence high
- Place
- Raiatea and Tahiti, French Polynesia
- Credited to
- Tupaia of Raiatea, with James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
A chart drawn aboard the Endeavour in 1769 from the knowledge of a priest-navigator from Raiatea, placing about 74 islands over an area more than 4,000 km across. It is oriented by Polynesian sailing directions, not European north.
Only copies survive; some place names and positions are still debated. Tupaia died in Batavia in 1770.
What it led to
- a record of Polynesian geography and navigation in a European source
- a basis for discussion on the reach of traditional voyaging
- reassessment of Tupaia's role in Cook's expedition