Waka (Māori: [ˈwaka]) [1] are Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes (waka tīwai) used for fishing and river travel to large, decorated war canoes (waka taua) up to 40 metres (130 ft) long.

2025年3月6日 · A waka is a traditional Polynesian canoe, crafted from wood and built for ocean exploration. These vessels played a crucial role in Polynesian culture, serving as a means of transportation, fishing, and cultural exchange.

Waka is the Māori word for canoe. The ancestors of Māori were among the greatest of canoe builders, navigators and mariners. Over the course of several thousand years, long before they came to New Zealand, Māori ancestors swept out of South-East Asia and Oceania into Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.

New Zealand’s abundance of wide-girthed trees such as tōtara meant that Māori could build much more diverse waka (canoes) than in their Polynesian homeland. They developed a variety of vessels for coastal and inland waterways.

2025年1月16日 · Thanks to the sharp eyes of a local family, the splintered remains of a canoe has been discovered buried in a sand dune on Chatham Island in New Zealand. Though it’s unclear who originally built the water craft, it speaks to the island’s long and fascinating nautical history.

2025年3月6日 · They Turned Out to Be Fragments of a Polynesian Canoe. The boat, known as a waka, was unearthed in the Chatham Islands. Researchers say it could be one of the most significant discoveries of its...

2023年6月15日 · A long-abandoned waka, the traditional canoe of the Maori people, was recently discovered in the shallow waters of the Patea River in the Taranaki region of western New Zealand. Current estimates are that the vessel is more than 150 years old.

2 天之前 · Indigenous rights leaders state that this is probably a waka that belonged to the Moriori ancestors, who, around the year 1500, reached Rēkohu after sailing across the sea from the mainland, as the Smithsonian Magazine reports.Activists point to oral history records that mention matching waka designs and the fact that this canoe mirrors the details of traditional Moriori …

2025年3月4日 · The limited excavation of the partial remains of a waka found on Rēkohu Wharekauri Chatham Island has finished. “The site has now been covered and secured by the archaeological team and neighbouring landowner,” said Glenis Philip-Barbara, Pou Mataaho o Te Hononga Deputy Secretary Māori Crown Partnerships, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture …

2025年1月13日 · According to a press statement by the Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture & Heritage, a local family discovered the exposed remains of a waka, a canoe used for fishing and river travel, traditionally associated with the Māori people.