The
stick charts were the main tool the
Marshallese
used to navigate on canoe across the islands of the Pacific Ocean,
until WWII. Lacking astrolabes, sextants or even a compass, they would
rely on maps made up by midribs of coconut fronds tied together to form
an open framework. The location of the islands was represented by shells
tied to the framework or by the lashed junction of two or more sticks.
The threads were used to map ocean swells, the prevailing ocean surface
wave-crests and the directions they followed to approach an island. The
stick charts represented a very interesting form of cartography encoding
informations not traditionally included in navigation maps.
Each chart stick is unique and was made by an individual navigator
who was therefore the only person able to fully interpret and use it.
The maps were not taken along during navigation, but studied and
memorized prior to a trip. The Marshallese navigator would crouch down
or lying prone in the canoe to feel how the hull was being pitched and
rolled by underlying swells.
There are three main categories of stick charts:
Mattang,
Meddo (or
Medo), and
Rebbelib (or
Rebbelith).
The
Mattang stick chart was an abstract chart used for instructions and for teaching principles of reading how islands disrupt swells.
The
Meddo chart showed actual islands and their relative or exact positions.
The
Rebbelib charts portrayed the same information as a
Meddo chart, but unlike them, included all or most of one or both chains of islands.
Map and Global Position of the Marshall Islands
Contributed by
Antonio R. Montesinos.
