The Origins of the Word “Tattoo” The Spanish navigator, Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira The first visited Polynesian islands were the Marquesas Islands, which is found by European explorers, the Spanish navigator, Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, in 1595. But the European navigators showed little interest due to the lack of valuable resources. Captain James Cook was the first navigator trying to explore the whole Polynesia Triangle. The naturalist aboard “the HMS Endeavour” (Captain Cook’s ship), Joseph Banks, first mentioned the word “tattoo” (Also called “Tatau” by Samoan and “Tatu” by Tahitian) in his journal: “I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition”. Captain James CookIn 1771, when James Cook first returned to Tahiti and New Zealand from his first Voyage, the word “tattoo” appeared in Europe. He narrated a behavior of Polynesian in his voyage, which is called “tattaw”. He also brought a Tahitian named Ma’i to Europe and since then tattoo started to become rapidly famous because of the tattoos of Ma’i. Another saying is that the Polynesian tattoos were fond of by European sailors and spread extremely fast in Europe because they were with the tattoos emblazoned on their bodies when back home after voyages.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 02:58:26 +0000
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