Simple really, so we need to go back in time, when Ethelred the Horror sailed form Norstad, Norway, a noted longboat manufacturing area. With four other longboats and his marauding gang he sailed west determined to find the lands his whanau had visited before written record. Soon after catching a favourable TradeWind they reached what would become Iceland (Hrafna Floki Vilger6arson). One longboat and crew stayed on the island and the other 4 longboats headed further west, eventually above the Arctic Circle and the large island of Greenland (Grænlendingar). Modern history attributes the arrival of both island as 988AD. I tend to think much earlier. My calculations have them before 882AD. Why? In 882AD the remaining longboats (3) left one behind in Greenland and headed sou'west to uncharted land. Thought to be islands, the area that would become Nova Scotia was settled by the 3 remaining longboats.
Ethelred the Horror and his men (no women). After months of replenishing and trading with local iwi, one remaining longboat returned east to Norstad with the news of the discovery. It never made it. Ethelred the Horror commanded the two remaining waka and headed south to find Southland, the revered land of southern Ice and Fire. After sailing down the West Coast of the America's replenishing with local iwi and taking on some girl flesh as they went. Most of those girls literally "Jumped Ship" fearful of their crude hosts. So, by the time the two longboats reached the Pacific Ocean, and catching a helpful Sou east Tradewind they eventually discovered Rapanui. At this time, the Moua'i production were prolific. A descendant of the current Nistfarg, Redfendrig the Ugly, noted for his whakapapa telling and noted that 16 foot giants were the only occupants and had no food to eat. The Moau'i workers hardly noticed their much shorter Vikings so leaving was not fraught with parting. Catching another Sou East TradeWind and heading west into the mid Pacific, they happened to discover what would become later as Tahiti. All this in 883AD.
Tahiti was barren of human population, but plentiful food, be it vegetation or fish. Miraculously both longboats were still in good repair and only one loss of life since departing Greenland. Remember, all 4 original Longboats were manned by Viking soldiers. No women allowed sorry. And that is where the story takes a "what If" slant. Seafaring warriors need female company, for company, and reproduction, that is children. For 12 months (or so) they had not had a good roll in the hay and no matter how he could, Ethelred the Horror could not satisfy his crews demands. Towards the end of the journey (what is not known) one Longboat stayed in uninhabited Rarotonga whilst the team's leader and his boat travelled sou-west, eventually discovering a cooler less tropical series of large islands.
What had dogged Ethelred on his epic journey, was the lack of women, for breeding, passing down the lore, and looking after their men. One would say he was unlucky to be where he was when he was. In 250 years time, The Polynesians would also venture from Rapanui to Tahiti, north to Hawaii, southwest to Rarotonga. When they arrived in Rapanui, the Giants of Viking Legend had gone and only their Moua'i remained. Somewhere off Aitutaki Atoll lies a Longboat in full burial regalia.
Our heroic Viking Leader then settled at a place that would become Otautahi, the only known settlement on the very large southern island. Why there? Simple, much needed women. With the predecessors of the Mori Ori a tribe called Hoothri (toothless Men), the Vikings, who were more known for their brutal battles and raping and pillaging (the Brits gave them that name), took up farming and Moa Harvesting in the plentiful Totara Forests. The only known predator at the time for the Moa was human and Hikoioi (Haast Eagle) If a census were to be taken in 890AD of Aotearoa you would find 2,346 in Te Ika o Maui and 5,949 in Te Waipounamu. Rakiura numbered a healthy 476 (current Population 406)
Over three hundred years and before the arrival of the Polynesians, the Viking blood was assimilated into Mori Ori culture and eventually watered down. Ethelred the Horror was noted journalist; in that he could store in his mind and pass it down. His last journey, aged 88, was to Te Ika o Maui to see his whanau and marvel at the works they told their journey in rock carvings. According to our esteemed Viking, the Kaimanawa Wall was very much prior to Viking origin. In 930AD, departing from Whanganui-a-Tara, Ethelred the Horrible met his maker, a very large sea-serpent later known as Tangaroa, a taniwha of the deep. His body was laid to rest in Peta One. As far as the Viking Lore goes, it ends. Except - Shield Maidens were introduced to supplement domination of the known world.
If one looks at this image drawn by a crewman on Abel Tasman's 1642 visit. Note -
1. Number of seagoing waka (11), maximum 12 crew per waka - 121 warriors, huge hapu.
2. In the very large rendition of Waka complete with Rangitira, all warriors have Man Bun's and appear to have no hair but oversized heads. No ta moko either but they do have beards.
3. All data points to Golden Bay, closer to South of Farewell Spit, but from Tarakohe to tip of Farewell Spit the area is littered with large shoals. Tasman was a navigator, so he knew his stuff, and kept well clear. My guess is Motueka River Mouth. The image purports my assumptions.
4 Curious facts. This image is attributed to Isaac Gilsmans, crewman onboard at the time. That image is an etching, better known as Daguerreotype, there are no colours, just a sepia tone image. So which Dutch Craved Cur decided to colour an historic document with tricolour flags.
Take a step or two forward in time. 1280AD. The Lone Navigator Kupe makes landfall in Whanganui - a - Tara. After a few days replenishing kaimoana and herbs he had a visit from a Keha claiming to be a Viking Sailor buried in Peta One (By the River) three hundred years earlier. Kupe departed his new capital to circumnavigate Te Waipounamu, stopping at Otautahi (Mori Ori), Rakiura, and Motueka. On his homeward journey to Hawaiki he anchored his new countries name, after all land was shrouded in clouds. Ao Te a Roa (Not Aotearoa nor Ao Tea Roa). After many years telling all his families his story he raises a Navy on 14 twin- hulled Wakanui also known by Māori as The Great Migration. Hungry to be at home again (Whanganui-a-Tara) Kupe leads his budding mariners and navigators to the south west corner of the Pacific (Moana Roa). The rest is history (or is it??)
1325 - Great Migration arrives in Ao Te A Roa - great Moa cull begins.
In 1822, Ngati Toa Rangatira, Te Rauparaha, started a lifelong tale of warring, probably more than his much-vaunted Vikings predecessors. As far as much ancestral history goes most of Te Waipounamu was inhabited by Ngai Tahu (not to be confused with Ngati Tahu - they didn't exist). The Ngai Tahu Pa at Kaiapoi, was the hub of the trade in Pounamu and by accounts, historians claim his Kaiapoi raid was aligned to controlling the Greenstone wealth and woman and children for slaves. In reality Te Rauparaha had other plans. Given tribal knowledge at the time and more especially his visit to Ngati Toa lands at Peta One, he deduced that a curious tribe lived in Te Waipounamu. Of a pale brown skin, fair hair and hazel eyes, these Mori Ori were distinctive in appearance and in actions (loved to dive for Koura. paua and kina)
1958 Whanganui-a-Tara. Kupe, Ethelred and Thane join forces. Peace to all.
A great read !!! Got my attention.Sure makes you think.We are all just visitors in the end,
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