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Geography

A large canoe with wooden rows and red detailing. The canoe sits amidst a museum with items from the collection surrounding it.
Source

Te Paranihi, or Maori War Canoe

Te Paranihi is a 17-meter (55 feet) war canoe, or waka taua, from the Maori culture indigenous to New Zealand.

A map centered on Oceania with the three dominant cultures highlighted. The Micronesia in the top left is pink, Melanesia is under Micronesia and labeled blue.
Source

Pacific Culture Areas Map

This map illustrates the three dominant cultures in Oceania, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia, and which islands occupy each region. This map successfully highlights the number of island nations/cultures and the overall size of Oceania.

A blue, circular icon with an image of a document in the center. Underneath are the words "view document"
Source

Polynesian Oral Traditions

This collection compiled by Rawiri Taonui, a professor of Indigenous Studies, includes creation myths and stories about gods, the origin of humanity, and cultural heroes for several Polynesian cultures, such as Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and numerous others.

A woven textile with A closeup of a woven textile featuring a figure that may be a human-animal hybrid. He wears red and blue clothing, dark colored sandals, and has a golden-colored headpiece.
Source

Coca Bag

This coca bag is from the Moche culture that existed in Peru between the period of 100 to 700 AD. The Moche are known for their ceramics, textiles, and metalworking practices, and this bag demonstrates the skill of Moche weavers.

Three reddish-brown fragments of potter featuring a human face and geographic patterns.
Source

Lapita Pottery from the Santa Cruz Islands

This pottery sherd dates from around 1000 BCE and is from the Lapita culture, the likely common ancestor of contemporary Polynesian cultures. This sherd was found in the Santa Cruz Islands, part of the Solomon Islands.

Link to source page for sources and annotation.
Teaching

Short Teaching Module: Borderland Migration and Communities in Twentieth-Century West Africa

Cross-border mobility has created borderland cultures and led to the development of vibrant communities that in some cases have stretched across several states.

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Source

Map and Population Table for British Gambia, 1915-1918

Many people in West Africa fled across colonial boundaries to avoid military conscription in the late 19th and early 20th century. For example, during World War I, tens of thousands of people left the French colony of Senegal for neighboring British Gambia and Portuguese Guinea-Bissau.

2 Prints of a Sole Amerindian in a Canoe
Teaching

Long Teaching Module: Caribbean Seafaring in the Archaic Age (2000-400 BC)

There have been many different approaches to studying seafaring in the past. We can look at the evidence of voyages in books written by prominent explorers or follow the maps maintained by successful prominent trading companies.

Table with cells containing different values. Description in annotation.
Source

Least Cost Pathway Analysis Showing Movement Across a Landscape

These side by side charts show the basics of how least cost pathway analysis works in action. A geographic surface, landscape or seascape, is broken into standard size squares (or cells).

Image of the Mahabodhi Temple: a stepped pyramid with round dome-shaped structure (stupa) on top
Methods

Analyzing Travel Records

In a way, all historical thinking and all historical writing deal with travel accounts.