If the discovery of the Americas was awarded to Christophe Columbus in 1492, history applies to remind us that the first Europeans to have walked the new world were the Vikings about 500 years before the Genoese. Well, it seems that we are faced with a similar scenario concerning Antarctica.
Antarctica would have been discovered in the 7th century
What about Antarctica? A hostile land where cold and ice reign supreme and where the presence of man is limited only in certain places where scientific bases are installed.
In the past, 52 million years ago, studies have shown that the ice continent was very different. Lush vegetation and prehistoric animals lived there in a relatively soft climate. It has now changed a lot. And usually, if we know Antarctica we are told that it is thanks to two European explorers:
- James Cook (1728 – 1779) – who was the first to have crossed the Antarctic Circle in 1773.
- and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (1778 – 1852) – which discovered the lands of Antarctica between 1819 and 1821.
Two exploits from two European explorers, but nevertheless they would have arrived at the Glace Continent more than 1000 years after the first discoverers of Antarctica. Indeed, a study dated 2021 reports a discovery of these hostile lands from the 7th century by a Polynesian explorer by the name of Hui te Rangiora.
This is in any case what emerges from the analyzes of the literature and the stories transmitted orally by the research team led by the Dr. Priscilla Wehi of the Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research.
“” “We find in the Polynesian travel accounts between the islands, travel accounts in ancruity waters by Hui te Rangiora and its crew on board the Te Ivi O Atea ship, probably at the beginning of the 7th century”Explained the researcher in an article published in Taylor & Francisone of the oldest university publisher in the world.
A legend that rebuilds the cards of the exploration of the world?
What are the elements that suggest that Antarctica has indeed been discovered more than 1000 years before what history books seem to tell us?
It is not enough to say that a legend is true for it to be. It is necessary to support arguments that go in this direction. Thus, by immersing themselves in these famous travel accounts in which stories transmitted orally from generation in generation, researchers have been able to identify elements that agree with a discovery of Antarctica very prior to that of Europeans.
Indeed, by studying other works that have made it possible to identify these famous legends, there are evocations of rocks which leave the sea and which have no vegetation – surely icebergs – but also of marine creatures capable of living in cold temperatures of Antarctica.
In addition, it is also mentioned there that the place is not bathed in the sun and is therefore particularly dark, which could be an evocation of Antarctica which knows, like its polar northern counterpart, an alternation of day and night period every six months.
Finally, a final index has enabled the research team to be able to support their hypothesis: the name given to the area for generations. Indeed, in Māori language this area visited by the Explorer Hui te Rangiora is called Tai-Uka-A-Pia.
“” “This appellation designates the frozen ocean; A-PIA means “as or in the manner of”; Pia designed the arrow-root [ndr, un légume] which, once scratched, looks like snow”Can we read in the study.
All these clues, more other stories reporting even further south that may have enabled Māori explorers to put their eyes, first before everyone, on the Antarctic continent.
Source : Taylor & Francis / Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand
With an unwavering passion for local news, Christopher leads our editorial team with integrity and dedication. With over 20 years’ experience, he is the backbone of Wouldsayso, ensuring that we stay true to our mission to inform.
