Pre-Columbian Celestial Navigation

Pre-Columbian Navigators, during past Centuries, used Constellation “Big Dipper” (‘Ursa Major’ / ‘Osa Mayor’) for Celestial Navigation for locating the Pole Star (‘Polaris’).

This ‘North Star’ was their primary direction-finder in the (night-)Skies, while traversing from SouthAmerica to nearby islands or even Antillean archipels.

The question has often been raised why aboriginal ‘Continental Americans’ would even depart to unknown lands in turbulent PeHistoric times:
According to learned LatinAmerican Archeologists, the answer primarily lies in the necessity for archaic Tribe-Leaders to authenticate their ‘Divine’ Authority, returning with exotic treasures as a result of their Overseas trips, while cementing friendly and practical relations with foreign Chiefs.
It is highly probable that such perilous trips were realized not only with paddling-power, but also propelled by the winds :
The outstanding cotton-qualities from Caribbean coasts, easily weaved with their exceptional long threads for Pre-Columbian SailMakers, made sailing close to the wind possible; essential for safely reaching further away islands.

With sincere gratitude to :

-Prof. Dr. Gerardo Ardila, (Universidad Nacional, Bogota), eminent researcher of earliest American civilizations and their influence on ancient cultures of adjacent (Is)lands, for highlighting, -on-camera-, the Divine-inspired authority of SouthAmerican “Caciques” (comparable to European Medieval Royal Absolutism) : Plausible explanation for exchanging lush continental surroundings for desert-like (island)-territories, probably as long ago as late Pleistocene times.

-Mr. Sjaak Koeten, (Royal Netherlands Marine Corps), for on-the-spot (under the stellary nightskies of the ABC-Islands) demonstrating the way the NorthStar (“Polaris”) can be found at OceanWater-level, in pitch darkness and without any Direction Finding Equipment at hand.