(classical music)
(jaunty music)
(tribal music)
- Yah!
(bird cawing)
(grunting)
(bird crying out)
- Well, white meat or dark?
- Drumstick, actually, I want.
(grunting)
Yeah.
- No, that's totally impossible.
There just couldn't be a bird as large as that.
- Oh, yes, there could.
There was a bird like that in existence
that is two or three centuries ago.
- Then where, Maestro?
- In New Zealand.
In Australia, as well as on certain Pacific Islands.
- Really big ocean the Pacific.
- Big?
It's so large you can't imagine,
covering a third of the Earth's surface.
As large as all the other oceans put together.
With some 10,000 islands,
it's a big ocean.
- Who discovered it?
And when?
- Well, of course, knowledge of the Pacific
is as old as man himself.
About 4,000 years back,
it was explored by the Polynesians.
They were marvelous sailors
and voyaged all over the Pacific
before any European arrived there.
Children, there's simply too many of us on the island,
there's too little food,
fish is becoming very scarce.
You must sail and find new land.
- Yes, Grandfather.
I am certain you are right.
I suggest we construct a large boat.
We'll all build it together,
then we can sail and find new lands.
It'll take us five moons.
(energetic music) (wood chopping)
(hammering)
- Oh, ow! Ow, ow!
(laughter)
(hammering)
(drilling)
- [Polynesian] Hey, there.
- [Polynesian] That's good.
- Higher, higher.
(grunting)
Ha ha ha, a splendid breeze.
This may be nearly perfect for a test.
All right, in the water.
- Tack to the wind, more to the left.
Hoist the sail.
(upbeat music)
- It works! What a boat.
- Now, careful, turn it around.
Left oar, stop paddling.
- Oh, ow! (splash)
Ahh!
- [Polynesian Sailor] Give a hand.
- Eh, this one's is a real beauty,
best we ever built.
She will take you far.
That's it, now bring down the sail.
Quickly now, go on.
- Lower the sail.
- [Maestro] You all did a great job.
Hey, you're lucky to be going in a boat like that,
the lands you'll see.
(upbeat music)
(chewing)
Oh.
You've no manners, the younger generation.
- I'm sorry, Grandpa.
Honest, I didn't mean it.
It did it by itself.
- I'm sure it did.
For quite a long time, I've been aware that
stones have a will of their own.
And home again.
Now, if you want to see stars,
you mustn't stay close to the fire,
too much light.
Now, you'll be guided by the stars.
You remember.
- Yes, Grandfather.
It's by the stars that we always find our direction,
and in any season.
- And we know how to read the flights of migrating birds
and we sense the direction of winds and of currents.
That new island, we'll find one.
- Yes, we have always known there were many more islands
there where the sun rises.
Often our children have departed and never come back again,
and that means they must have found new islands
and they surely liked them.
I would be glad to go along with you
for a bit younger.
- Yes, why not?
Come with us, Grandfather.
You're better at reading stars than anybody else.
Yes, you'd be a real help.
- Yeah, you're right.
Maybe it's not a bad idea after all.
I'll go, maybe.
(upbeat music)
(animals grunting)
(dogs barking)
(chickens clucking)
(laughter)
- Ah, it's super.
We're gonna be living on a new island.
You're not gonna come along with us?
- Me? Nope.
No, everything I want is right here.
I won't give it up.
I have everything.
I'd be very stupid.
Anyway, I don't take chances.
Besides, you might not hit upon an island.
- Sure, we will,
because he told us we would.
The wise man's never wrong.
He's going with us.
(upbeat music)
(Polynesians chanting)
(grunting)
- [Maestro] They went off on their adventure,
knowing they would never return.
Despite wind and storms day and night,
they stayed on their course,
hoping that sooner or later,
they would sight one of the innumerable islands
scattered across the Pacific.
(upbeat music)
- A bit more to the left,
then straight ahead.
- Let's go, you guys.
No more sleeping time.
- That's fine.
Straight ahead. Yep.
- Right. Now you can sleep.
- [Maestro] Then one day, sure enough,
they found their new island.
- Look, giant chickens.
Oh, boy, I'm hungry.
- Explorers of the Pacific coming from Asia
four or five thousand years ago
managed to settle in most of the uninhabited islands
of this immense ocean:
The Solomon Islands, New Caledonia,
Noumea, Samoa, Tonga, the Society Islands,
Tahiti, and countless others.
In the year 400, Polynesians from the Marquesas
crossed 3,500 kilometers to settle in Hawaii.
Some went to Easter Island,
where they erected enormous statues
discovered thousands of years later.
- I'd say they really got around, those Polynesians.
- Before the Portuguese.
- Before the Spanish as well.
- And, maybe even before the Greeks or the Phoenicians,
but when Columbus went on his first voyage to America,
he never even suspected that a Pacific Ocean might exist.
He was sure that if he crossed the Atlantic,
he would find India or China,
and many years later, in Europe,
we still had a view of the world that,
well, that you can see here.
Magellan had sailed around the globe
and many others were to follow.
- That map is really strange.
- Especially the Americas.
- But Maestro, what's this large continent down here?
- Ah, that is a land that simply does not exist.
Way in the past, two millennia ago,
Ptolemy, the great geographer, observed,
that most of the known land was in the Northern hemisphere,
so he supposed there had to be an immense continent south,
or the world would topple over, unbalanced.
- What an idea, topple over.
- Lopsided, you made a good demonstration.
Anyway, that's what they thought at the time,
and so they set off in search of this land.
First, they set off with the Spaniards,
who settled here in Peru
under the confused command of the Mendanes.
- Hey, let's go.
May as well, hoist the sails, pick the anchor up,
and so forth.
- Oh, he doesn't know anything.
Hoist that, gosh.
- It's Mendana, the nephew of the viceroy.
- Sir, let me take care of it.
Later, I'll explain.
Cast off and prepare to sail, weigh anchor,
hoist the fo'c'sle, pull starboard.
- [Maestro] Mendana did sight a few islands,
but nothing interesting.
But he didn't give up searching
and 30 years later...
- One of these days, sir,
I'm convinced we will find that southern continent.
- Oh, yeh, yeh, with me, well, we can't miss.
- We will find plenty of gold.
- [Maestro] They discovered many more islands,
but no missing continent.
Another expedition was sent.
This time commanded by Queiros.
They went all the way to the New Hebrides, New Australia.
- Land! Land, land!
(laughter)
- [Maestro] But of course, they never found a trace
of that great continent in the southern hemisphere
and for what reason?
Namely, there was no such place.
But the Spanish weren't the only ones interested
in the Pacific.
A Dutch expedition was sent out.
It was led by Abel Tasman.
He was an excellent sailor
and he, too, was determined to find
that imaginary continent.
He set his course for the south,
and sailed the ship into the sea,
toward the Southern Australia area.
- The sea is too rough.
Can't put down a launch and go ashore.
- You're saying we don't plant the flag, captain?
- Yes, we must, for the glory of Holland.
- How can we?
I mean, with, I mean...
- You plant it, simple, you can swim.
- Oh, it's impossible.
- Disobeying orders?
- Ahhhh. (Splash)
- Remember to plant it.
(groaning)
Good one, now get warm.
How about a little rum?
(groaning)
(gulping)
- [Maestro] The land, that Tasman discovered,
was not surprisingly, called Tasmania,
an island south of Australia.
And then...
- At last, the great southern continent.
Beyond doubt, this is it.
Drop anchor!
(tribal chanting)
(cannon fire)
(tribal language)
(laughter)
(blows raspberry)
- Ah.
(chain winching)
- After discovering Tasmania,
he went on to discover New Zealand,
but he judged it more prudent to keep his distance.
- [Student] Maestro?
- Yes? What is it?
(jaunty music)
Ah.
- [Students] Huh?
- Well, open it up.
- Uh.
- This plant's really nice.
- Ah, this is to remind me.
I'm sort of forgetting an explorer,
one of the greatest of France,
Bougainville.
- And this plant, with its flowers is the Bougainvillea,
so named because Bougainville discovered it.
Is that right?
- Right on.
- I count on this plant to establish my fame.
- Bougainville, a man of great talent,
he was a mathematician,
a learned advocate, a skilled fencer,
an excellent dancer,
a king's musketeer and a war hero decorated by
King Louis the Fifteenth of France.
- Louis Antoine de Bouganville,
you have given us a brilliant example
of a man who can turn his hand to anything.
I bestow the honor of knight of San Louis.
- [Lady] His majesty.
(yawning)
- You appear bored to tears.
And I notice, sir, more precisely, I know your story.
- Oh, really?
- You were rather unlucky.
- Oh, why so?
- Well, just a couple of years ago,
I know you were serving under Montcalm in Canada
and you helped defend Quebec against the English
and France was distinctly cool
in providing any assistance in this struggle.
- Attack!
(gunfire)
- Fire at...
(gun shots)
(groaning)
- [Maestro] Later, when you presented the King's court
with an excellent plan to conquer Carolina and Virginia,
Minister Bellieu, who was entangled in his own stupid wars,
gazed you and gave his hearty reply.
- Sir, when one's home is burning,
he is not concerned with the stables.
- Once again, a little bad luck.
It's true you did conquer the Falklands,
but they were returned to the Spanish
You have heard of about the Terra Australis Incognita?
- Oh, yes. A great southern continent,
is there such a place?
- [Maestro] It's up to you to find out, Mr. Bougainville.
- May I ask your name?
- Pierre-Antoine Veron, astronomer, at your service, sir.
That is on your ship in your service.
- On my ship?
- [Maestro] Yes, on the ship you will use on your voyage.
- A voyage? To what end?
- Discovery.
- [Bougainville] Discover what?
- That southern continent.
- Really? Hmm.
Come quickly.
A frigate has just been completed in Nantes.
The duc de Choiseul, the minister, is my friend.
I know he'll make me use it.
Welcome aboard.
Where's Mr. Commercon, our naturalist?
He's not with you?
- He's making preparations; he'll be here.
- Glass jars, spirits of wine to preserve samples.
Mastick and salt to treat animal skins.
Laminate of lead for the label.
Tin plates, boxes, paper, and cork boxes for insects.
Well, what more will I need?
- Me, Phillbert.
Wives are not allowed on board.
Tell me, what will I do without you?
It will be such a long time.
(crying)
- I'm going to miss you, I really am.
Oh, wait.
I have an idea, Jeanne.
(dramatic music)
Ah, perfect.
- Uh, uh.
- Put it on.
My dear, from now on, you're Jean Bare, my valet.
How's that?
- I love it, dear.
(groaning)
- Goodbye.
(hooves hitting the ground)
- Tadatchou.
(horse neighing)
- Ohh.
(horse neighing)
- Monsieur Bougainville,
will you please pardon the way I came aboard?
I wish to join you with permission from the king.
- And who are you, Monsieur?
- Charles, Prince of Nassau-Usingen.
I am at your service.
- At my service?
- I would like to go with you on your expedition.
I'm a soldier, a hunter, a philosopher, a diplomat.
I surely could be of use to you.
- Prince, the voyage will be long and difficult.
- I don't care.
I won't occupy much space.
- I see you are determined.
Well, it is impossible to refuse.
I just hope you won't be too bored.
- - [Maestro] Bougainville was a talented and cultured man.
The philosopher Diderot said of him:
- On this expedition, Bougainville's greatest assets
were precisely his own attributes of philosophy,
bravery, spirit and science.
- It was on a stop in Brazil that he discovered this plant,
now called Bougainvillea.
Being in a tropical climate,
it grows very rapidly,
and in here as well.
After a while, Bougainville made his way
through the straits of Magellan.
(dramatic music)
(grunting)
- Two months it took us to get through
that awful strait.
At last, we've made it to the Pacific Ocean,
but now are we going to find that hidden land mass
that everyone's been looking for?
(majestic music)
Sail on, the people on that island must not like strangers.
Look there, isn't that incredible?
(oohing and aahing)
(majestic music)
Holding symbols of peace,
like olive branches with us.
(ladies laughing)
(men chuckling)
(ladies giggling)
(natives laughing)
They are like big children.
I know they mean us no harm at all.
- Noble savages unspoiled by civilization.
(laughing)
- Here.
(Phillbert and natives laughing)
- This is paradise on earth,
or better yet, Cythera.
You know, the island where Venus rose from the sea.
- Quite so.
We'll name this island, yes, I name it New Cythera.
(speaking native language)
Bougainville.
(gentle music)
(grunting)
That's the island's name, that it?
- Oh, Tahiti.
- Put up several tents.
We'll tend the sick men here.
We better take advantage of their hospitality
and abundant food apparently growing here.
- Higher, higher!
(speaking native language)
- I would like to cure them, I'm sure.
(groaning)
I would like for them to have 20 days rest here on land.
(grunting)
All right, 15 days will do, I suppose.
- Oh, dear.
Hey, you, oh!
(monkey-like groaning)
Oh, oh, oh.
(water splashing)
- Well, Mr. Veron,
just what is our latitude at present?
- Ja, I won't know that until tonight,
by observing the positions of the moon and planets.
- Splendid! I leave you in good company.
- Mmm?
Hmm.
(drums beating)
(tribal music)
(waves crashing)
(speaking native language)
(variable grunting)
- Whoa!
(speaking native language)
Cowabunga!
- Look at all this, a breadfruit tree and bananas.
Plum trees, look, there.
The birds eat to their hearts' content.
(mysterious music)
(groaning)
(grunting)
- That's our dinner, go on, pick it up.
- What do we give him?
To buy it.
- We give him nails.
These people go crazy for nails.
Give me your pig, I'll give you these nails.
- Mm-Mm. - [Sailor] He says, "No."
- But that's all I got.
(slap) (pig squealing)
(speaking native language) (gunshot)
- You will all be judged and sentenced, believe me.
Because of you, these friendly people
have turned against us.
It's your fault.
- Look, here, captain.
Let me go and speak to them.
Some are friends of mine
and perhaps I might convince them
that not all of us are bad.
- It'll be dangerous.
- God, I'm not worried.
- Hmm.
(speaking native language)
- As with people everywhere,
some are good, others bad.
We don't mean to cause you any harm.
Stay, our friends.
(speaking native language)
Well, we're really good friends once more,
only has a little request.
- [Bougainville] Yes, what is it that he wants?
- This is Ahutoru.
This is the chief's younger brother.
He wants to come back with us.
Well, can he?
- But he'll be unhappy.
He lives in a genuine paradise here,
but back there, he doesn't realize it.
- He's made up his mind.
- Pence, pence.
- Let him come along if he wants.
(tribal drums)
(native music)
(ladies crying)
- But something I forgot.
Wait here.
I'll be right back.
I hereby take possession of this land
in the name of his Christian majesty
King Louis the Fifteenth.
So it's the tradition.
What did you think I'd do?
(native music)
(mysterious music)
- The Pacific is much bigger than anyone thought.
(dramatic music)
No, it wouldn't be right to use
our vastly superior force.
We better go back,
but where is he?
Where is Commercon?
(speaking native language)
Jump man, jump.
Where were you?
You just made it.
(Jeanne laughing)
I, oh!
- Oh!
- I hope you'll understand, sir.
Jeanne Bare is in reality my wife,
but a woman on board's never permitted.
We pretended and she looked very good in boy's clothing,
wouldn't you say?
- Yes, I would, Monsieur Commercon,
and I must admit I do understand,
and madame, it may interest you to know
you are the first woman to sail around the world.
- Bougainville just managed to miss the Great Barrier Reef,
and he sailed north around New Guinea
and then made his way back to France,
going past South Africa.
And, where am I?
After completing a two-year voyage,
and what a voyage it had been,
discovering literally thousands of islands,
and the position of each one is carefully mapped,
thus permitting explorers to find their way
in the Pacific.
And when there's water in all directions,
it's nice to know where you are.
Say, where am I?
(students laughing)
Orientation, knowing where you are is important.
That way, day or night, no matter where you are,
you're never lost.
Where am I?
What? Hello?
Oh, children, there you are.
I was afraid you were lost.
I am lost in this bougainvillea.
Maybe I should mention that another great explorer
will sail a ship to the Pacific
and make many discoveries.
- Yeah, who's that?
Who is it?
- James Cook. He was English and some say
Captain Cook was the greatest explorer of all time,
but that, as they say, is another story.
(exciting music)