Even though the Polynesians accomplished these great feats, Their culture, language and even navigation techniques almost went extinct. As the Europeans steadily flowed into Polynesia, religion followed right behind. Missionaries traveled to many of the islands and changed the lifestyle of Polynesia forever. They made their religion superior to the local beliefs by proving that their medicine can cure the Polynesians as they grew sick and ill from Smallpox and other illnesses. As these religions grew more prosperous among the people, Missionaries soon started to outlaw Hawaiian and polynesian culture and even banned the Polynesian language from most schools. For generations, Polynesian culture slowly diminished from the world. As the Polynesian lifestyle fell apart, soon, critics claimed that Polynesians were not the greatest navigators. Ben Finney explained that during the time of cultural depression, there was a growing amount of criticism about Polynesian navigation and techniques. Thor Heyerdahl of Kon-Tiki stated that the Polynesians migrated from South America on small, brittle rafts. He made this assumption up when he was stranded on a raft in 1947 and drifted from the coast of South America to the Tuamotu Islands. Other scholars considered the possibility that Polynesians had only chanced upon the land by accident. Others have even went to …show more content…
These canoes were usually larger than 60 feet long with two large sails as its propulsion. It was basically two titanic canoes tied to a wide deck with two very large masts. The deck served as the living quarters for everyone on board. Food, water and emergency equipment was tied down on the deck in case of large surges and waves. The actual canoes served as the sleeping quarters for the crew. However, the navigator and sometimes even the captain usually slept outside so he was able to gaze at the sky and and keep the vessel on