Early Austronesian Historical Voyaging in Monsoon Asia: Heritage and Knowledge for Museum Displays utilizing Texts, Archaeology, Digital Interactive Components, and GIS Approaches

Abstract

This paper covers work using historical geographic information systems (GIS) by the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI)2 to trace early navigation in Monsoon Asia. To open a scholarly Web-based platform to a broader audience, the ECAI Austronesia Team is collaborating with the Maritime Buddhism project conceived by Lewis Lancaster. The Maritime Buddhism project is being developed to reach general audiences with a high level of interactivity and 3D visualizations featuring historic timelines, ships, trade routes and trade winds, travelling monks, life at ports, and stories. To allow the information to be more accessible, mobile phone apps and multi-media museum displays are being developed. Austronesian speaking peoples made navigation a way of life across the Indian and Pacific oceans spanning thousands of years. The goal of this integration of content and technology is to enable our understanding of Monsoon Asia, its diffusion of culture, and oceanic navigation to become alive and accessible.