How did natives reach those isolated islands way out in the Pacific Ocean?

Question

...Hawaii for example

Answer 1

Canoe.

The Vikings travelled in boats not much bigger than canoes to places like Canada (Newfoundland) and Maine 1500 years ago.

As far as the term native goes. Even North American Indians really are the ancient Chinese and Mongols that travelled across the land bridge between Alaska and what is known now as Russia. This was about ten thousand years ago. Nowadays all you have to do is wait for a really cold day and you can cross over the ice. Then head south. Volia, North AMerican Indians.

Answer 2

This month, a group of Hawaiian paddlers finished the fourth in a series of trips recreating the route of their ancestors from Kure Atoll and Midway Atoll to the Hawaiian Islands.
The canoes they are using are based on descriptions of the old canoes -- twin hulled boats that are very stable. There is usually a platform rigged between the two hulls, which can be used for sleeping and the crew of paddlers rotate, taking turns sleeping the paddling. The modern day group is using the same navigational system their ancestors used, based on the stars, the clouds in the sky, the water -- and it is incredibly accurate.
The Polynesian peoples roamed all over the Pacific using these marvellous outrigger and twin hull canoes. Often they used a sail as well, when the breezes blew them in the right direction. It was a simple sail, made of woven grass and reed, but it worked and could be adjusted for tacking.
The Hawaiian group is now preparing for the last jump in their voyage, which they hope will take place next year.

Answer 3

There are 2 schools of thought involved in this chapter of human emmigration. The land bridge mentioned was not the origin of the american indian.. the remnants of that migration are still found in the far north.. even their language is similar enough for the Japanese to find it rather easy to communicate with them. This was shown on a documentary (on tv) not too many years ago.

The other explanation seems a bit remote also. There have been found bones of humans, on some of those islands. Dating as long ago as more than 2 million years.

One school of thought is; the land masses were much higher (or the sea much higher) to allow for the migration from the time before india was an established country.. there were tribal units who migrated south... for what ever reason.

Regarding the american native. it is thought they migrated north from the southern hemisphere. They have been here for a long time. Long beyond any recorded history.

Prehistory has become a very interesting study.

Answer 4

The site below gives a good explanation. Here's an excerpt:

"Kirch's recent research on islands from New Guinea to Hawaii establishes that settlement of the Pacific was one of the fastest human expansions of all time.

In two great leaps - the Lapita expansion around 1,500 B.C. to 1000 B.C. and the ancient Polynesian expansion about 1,000 years later - agricultural voyagers settled the Pacific islands in great sweeps outward from an original base, probably in Taiwan.

They carried with them a Noah's ark full of domesticated plants and animals - the coconut tree (found wild in only a few places), taro and other crop plants, chickens, pigs, dogs, and a mouse-sized rodent called the Pacific rat.

"They took their whole world with them," said Kirch. "It was an amazing expansion, one of the most rapid expansions in world history prior to European colonization."

The early Lapita expansion, from the Bismarck Archipelago near New Guinea to Samoa in the central South Pacific, was so fast it looks to the archaeological eye as if it happened instantly, said Kirch. Radiocarbon dates for settlement of different islands fall within the error range, which is about 300 years, for that technique.

By careful analysis, Kirch was able to tease out a small difference in settlement dates. He concludes that the Lapita culture, an antecedent of Polynesian society, settled numerous islands across 2,500 miles in about 250 to 300 years.

The later Polynesian expansion, from Samoa to Hawaii and Easter Island, occurred nearly as fast across much longer stretches of open ocean, said Kirch."

Answer 5

Some crazy guy did it with an outrigger raft typical of the period just to show it could be done Kon - Tiki

Answer 6

The above answers are pretty good. So I'll just give you an author who covers the issue very well.

"Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse"

Both by Jared Diamond

Answer 7

They traveled by foot before the land was split. And some came by boat by explorers.

Answer 8

Boats. Read history books! They are full of amazing revelations of discoveries which will entertain you and enrich you beyond all else.

Try reading these: http://library.thinkquest.org/15931/history.html
http://www.roperld.com/HomoSapienEvents.htm

Good luck, and have a great adventure.

Answer 9

Big ocean going canoes with sails.

Answer 10

large or double hulled canoes weighted down with pork,taro and other foodstuff for the voyage...great skill and navigational ability and every trick of that trade!!!watching "land nesting birds flight paths!!