Out of Antarctica: Reflections on the origins of peoples

Grand theories sometimes arise from simple questions or the elementary observations of natural phenomena. History is filled with examples: no least that, from the examination of a falling body, universal rules were established to explain the mechanics of the skies. Where did the Polynesians come from?



This question on the origins of a people, now isolated on the islands of the Pacific Ocean, has attracted the attention of scholars and given rise to many theories, such as those of Thor Heyerdahl on the Kon-Tiki and Eric de Bisschop aboard the Tahiti-Nuit



The desire to answer this question was, for Robert Argod, the starting point of an astonishing quest with fascinating ramifications. Polynesian mythology gave him the first leads. In these myths the original land is described in poetic terms: then came a long night and an endless cold forcing the Polynesians' ancestors on great ocean expeditions in search of more hospitable lands. The legends are filled with strikingly realistic details.



Robert Argod combined an encyclopaedic knowledge of the myths and legends of different races with a quality that is certainly essential to anyone trying to understand maritime migrations; he was a master mariner.



When fed by the accumulation of knowledge and experience, intution often generates fertile discoveries. A place recurred in Argod's research, logical from a maritime perspective but at first hard to believe, Antartica.