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Tupaia

Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator

By: Joan Druett

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Paperback | 10 October 2019

At a Glance

Paperback
348 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.5 x 14 x 2.5

Paperback

RRP $33.00

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Tupaia sailed with Captain Cook from Tahiti, piloted the Endeavour about the South Pacific, and was the ship's translator. Lauded by Europeans as an "extraordinary genius," Tupaia was a star navigator, a brilliant orator, and a most devious politician. Being highly skilled in astronomy, navigation and meteorology, and an expert in the geography of the Pacific, he was able to name directional stars and predict landfalls and weather throughout the voyage from Tahiti to Java.

Though, like all Polynesians, he had no previous knowledge of writing or map-making, Tupaia drew a chart of the Pacific that encompassed every major group in Polynesia and extended more than 2500 miles from the Marquesas to Rotuma and Fiji.

Tupaia also became one of the ship's most important artists, drawing lively pictures to illustrate what he described, and he could justly be called the Pacific's first anthropologist. Despite all these amazing accomplishments, however, Tupaia has never been part of the popular Captain Cook legend. In Tupaia, Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator, Joan Druett restores this extraordinary genius to his rightful place in history.

WINNER OF THE NEW ZEALAND POST GENERAL NON-FICTION AWARD

Industry Reviews

"It isn't easy to meld a raw jumble of research material into a cohesive and lively narrative but Druett has managed it with both scholarship and flair. She steers a scrupulous course between fact and speculation, and employs her novelist's instinct for a good story to augment her academic respect for history" Joan Curry, Christchurch Press, reviewing Tupaia.

"Druett's biography restores Tupaia's place in Pacific history and defines his role on the Endeavour... This reflects the originality and talent of one of New Zealand's most gifted authors" -- John Dunmore, The Listener.

"Druett's astute portrait vitally contributes to annals of exploration and cultural contact" --Gilbert Taylor, Booklist, reviewing the U.S. edition of Tupaia.

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