Retracing the route of ancient Pacific voyagers

0:00Support for this podcast and the following message come from Rivian, makers of the all-electric three-row R1S SUV and the always capable R1T pickup designed with the planet and future generations in mind. Learn more or schedule a demo drive at rivian.com. Today on State of the World, retracing the route of ancient Pacific voyagers.

0:26You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. Thousands of years ago, people left what is now Taiwan on boats to roam and settle on islands throughout the Pacific. Are you picturing the Moana movies right now? Because I am. This summer, a group of indigenous Taiwanese modern day voyagers decided to recreate the journey, rowing an open boat from an island in Taiwan all the way to the Philippines. Their aim is to reconnect with their ancient seafaring heritage. Jan Kamensen Burumbi takes us to Lanju Island, where they prepared for their journey.

1:11When he was young, Lanju local Maraos was warned against singing the island's traditional songs.

1:22Don't sing. Your ancestors will be summoned back to earth. he was told. But today, as he and others from the village prepare for a dangerous sea voyage, he wants the ancestors by his side. In our traditional customs, we believe our ancestors are blessing and protecting this boat. We hope our seafaring culture can continue to develop. We're on Lan Yu Island, some 40 miles off the southeast of Taiwan, home to the Tao, an indigenous group with only 5 ,000 or so members that belongs to the broader Austronesian language family. Today we've come with Maros, chairperson of Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation, who goes by only one name, to watch as Dao villagers prepare an enormous 39-foot rowing boat for a treacherous journey.

2:16This boat has its own spirit. We hope that this blessing and protection will continue to stay with us. They'll need the protection. That's because this ceremony is preparing villagers to row more than 100 miles to the Batanes Islands of the northern Philippines. And with that noise, they're trying to pick up the boat and take it over to the water. All of them together at once.

2:49The challenge they're undertaking is more than just a test of strength. They'll also be following in the footsteps of their Austronesian ancestors. Because from the Maori of New Zealand to the Malagasy of Madagascar, peoples from the Austronesian language family can trace their roots back to Taiwan. They spread out mainly from Taiwan and the Philippines, and then they began to move into Indonesia, to Sulawesi, into the Pacific. So this migration took 4 ,000 or 5 ,000 years. Purposeful, deliberate, and quite amazing in the distance it went. This is Peter Bellwood, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the Australian National University.

3:27Taiwan was a place of formation of what later became the Austronesian-speaking peoples. And those Austronesian languages themselves tell a story. Lan Yu still shares much of its language with the indigenous Austronesian Ivatan tribes of the Batanes, evidence that only a few hundred years ago, both sides were in frequent contact.

3:51Back in the port, Lan Yu's villagers take to the water. In the back of their minds, the island's folk history that tells stories of expeditions just like this one. For Roa Zhang Shikai, the voyage is a chance to turn legend into real life.

4:09This boat's journey is about demonstrating that our ancestors had these practices in the past and letting the next generation see it firsthand so that they can recognize our oral history is real. After more than a day at sea, they arrive in the Philippines, where they're greeted by Ivatan tribespeople. It's the first time a boat of this kind has crossed these waters in some 300 years.

4:38And it hasn't been easy. Rough seas threatened the voyage. But as Shikai reminds us, the expedition had to go on. Because for Lanus people, each boat has its own spirit. You can't keep standing still, he says. Once a boat is made, it must be paddled. For NPR News, I'm Jan Kramenden-Brumby on La New Island.

5:05That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.

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