O Tahiti Nui Freedom outrigger Canoe official departure for Shangai, originally uploaded by Pierre Lesage.
Tahiti Nui Freedom is a traditionnal outrigger canoe and a great project over a period of six months, to retrace the history of a migration which commenced six millennia ago
The ancestors of the Polynesians carried out a unique exploit in the history of humanity: the systematic colonization of the largest ocean of the world, the Pacific, with 20,000 km separating Asia from Central America. Since then, this ocean has remained the hub of exchanges.
All the known Polynesian cultures share a common ancestral and cultural heritage: Asia.
Using a traditional outrigger sailing canoe, the project consists of retracing in six months, but in a reverse direction, the route of settlement which began over 6,000 years ago.
The canoe will trace back this slow migration, from east to west, from the Pacific islands towards China, the country of origin[2]. The important settlement areas will thus become the stopovers on the return voyage: Tahiti, Avarua, Niue, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Philippines, China Hong Kong, and China Shanghai.
The canoe will arrive at the closing of the Expo Shanghai 2010.
More details : otahitinui.com/vaa/en
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Today was the official departure of the canoe with the local crowd, the officials from the local government, the french government, the representatives from all confessions as well as singers and dancers without forgeting the local sailors and sea afficionados. A great ceremony that unfortunately I could not attend. pictures by Heidy.
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