Westerners Were Not the First to Step Into Antarctica, but Another Group Reached There 1300 Years Before Them

Antarctica remained hidden from the world for a long time until some seafarers set foot on it. A team of researchers analyzed several documents to identify these seafarers, stated Live Science. The findings proved the popular theory of Western seafarers being the first to discover Antarctica wrong. The analysis was explained in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 

For the study, the team went through 'gray literature,' historical reports not published in peer-reviewed journals, as well as Indigenous oral histories and artwork. During their search, experts came across oral evidence centred around a Polynesian explorer exploring an icy, mountainous continent untouched by the sun. Based on their examinations, experts concluded that Polynesian seafarers possibly reached Antarctica 1,300 years ago, more than a millennium before their western counterparts.

Polynesians, specifically Māori, have mentioned Antarctica in their history since the seventh century CE.  The documents further showed researchers that after the westerners entered Antarctica in the 19th century, some Māori even joined their voyages as crew members. 

The study claims that oral histories composed by Māori tribal groups Ngāti Rārua and Te Āti Awa talk about an explorer named Hui Te Rangiora who led his vessel into a place that sounds like Antarctica, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The area was described as foggy, misty, and dark, filled with summits that "pierce the skies" but have no vegetation on them. The oral narrative mentions icebergs as well as marine animals, all of which backs the claim that it is describing Antarctica.

The findings are valuable because, for a long time, Māori people have been trying to prove that they entered Antarctica before the Westerners. The pursuit has been difficult because the majority of the accounts dealing with Antarctic exploration have been created by Europeans. But Māori people had a firm belief in their indigenous history; they just needed to properly present it to the world. "We didn’t discover this, it’s a known narrative," lead author Priscilla Wehi, a conservation biologist at New Zealand government research institute Manaaki Whenua, shared.

Māori continue to have a relationship with the southernmost continent. Recently, many Māori were involved in the New Zealand expedition to Antarctica. The study hopes that the findings pave the way for a deeper involvement of Māori with programs related to Antarctica.

Typically, the first confirmed sighting of Antarctica has been attributed to a Russian expedition in 1820, according to CNN. The first known person believed to have set foot on Antarctica was deemed to be an American explorer in 1821. The study challenges this assertion and claims that the Māori oral histories not only describe the continent but also provide navigational and astronomical details that were applied in the voyage. According to the team, this confirms that the oral narrative was rooted in reality.

Meera Sabaratnam, an international relations scholar at SOAS University of London, was not involved in the study but backs the findings, stated NBC News. According to her, it is logical for a community that lived close to Antarctica and had good seafaring skills would explore it before Europeans.

Researchers believe the study is proof that history is 'multidimensional' and should be analyzed with more lenses apart from the European perspective, according to CNN. This would make the contributions of many underrepresented groups more visible.