{"product_id":"9780008339043_sea-people-in-search-of-the-ancient-navigators-of-the-pacific","title":"Sea People: In Search of the Ancient Navigators of the Pacific","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWinner of the 2020 Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award for nonfiction and the 2019 NSW Premier's History Awards for general history\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n          \u003cstrong\u003e‘Wonderfully researched and beautifully written’ Philip Hoare, author of \u003cem\u003eLeviathan\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n        \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n          \u003cstrong\u003e‘Succeeds in conjuring a lost world’ Dava Sobel, author of \u003cem\u003eLongitude\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n        \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor more than a millennium, Polynesians have occupied the remotest islands in the Pacific Ocean, a vast triangle stretching from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. Until the arrival of European explorers they were the only people to have ever lived there. Both the most closely related and the most widely dispersed people in the world before the era of mass migration, Polynesians can trace their roots to a group of epic voyagers who ventured out into the unknown in one of the greatest adventures in human history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow did the earliest Polynesians find and colonise these far-flung islands? How did a people without writing or metal tools conquer the largest ocean in the world? This conundrum, which came to be known as the Problem of Polynesian Origins, emerged in the eighteenth century as one of the great geographical mysteries of mankind.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor Christina Thompson, this mystery is personal: her Maori husband and their sons descend directly from these ancient navigators. In \u003cem\u003eSea People\u003c\/em\u003e, Thompson explores the fascinating story of these ancestors, as well as those of the many sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists and geographers who have puzzled over this history for three hundred years. A masterful mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation, \u003cem\u003eSea People \u003c\/em\u003eis a vivid tour of one of the most captivating regions in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book Sea People by Christina Thompson is a captivating biography that explores the lives of the adventurers of Oceania. It is a prize-winning narrative that has been long-listed for its exceptional portrayal of aviation and nautical history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor fans of David Abulafia (The Boundless Sea), Peter Frankopan (The First Crusade), Martyn C. Rady (The Tsars, Russia, Poland and the Ukraine, 1462-1725), Tom Holland (The Rest is History), and Nicholas Thomas (Voyagers).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Christina Thompson, Read by Susan Lyons","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46889504014485,"sku":"9780008339043","price":35.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780008339043.jpg?v=1776887858","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780008339043_sea-people-in-search-of-the-ancient-navigators-of-the-pacific","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}