Andrew Sharp claims in his Ancient Voyagers in the Pacific
published in 1956 that the Pacific Islanders did not possess
the necessary navigational and sailing technology to
deliberately navigate the distances between islands of the
Pacific when colonizing these islands. He claims
colonization was random and accidental. However, more
recent studies from 1972 on of Pacific navigation suggest
deliberate navigation and colonization was possible and did
take place. These studies have been supported by
reenactments of voyages, computer simulations, and newly
acquired information regarding preparation for distant
voyages. Andrew Sharp supports his claim of accidental
colonization by citing numerous examples of lost voyagers
landing on populated islands, their testimony or second
hand information recorded by Captain Cook. Sharp claims
the only distant voyages were confined to "Western
Polynesia-Fiji and the Tahiti-Tuamotu archipelago" (Sharp
1956:2). He states that the......

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Title: Pacific Explorers
Approximate Word Count: 1512
Approximate Pages: 7 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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