Popo canoe model from Yap
Date1996
Object number00055535
NameModel canoe
MediumWood and natural fibres
DimensionsOverall: 550 × 700 × 560 mm
ClassificationsModels
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection gift of Dr John Lea
DescriptionThe ‘popo’ canoe model from Yap, Caroline Islands, in the Federated States of Micronesia is a handmade wooden model of one of their ocean going single outrigger canoe or proas called the ‘popo’.
This model was made as a personal gift to an Australian researcher in the mid-1990s by one of the Yap community members he had met while he was there over a period of months. It has remained with him until donated to the museum in 2018.
HistoryThe popo is specific to the Caroline Islands and evolved to suit the regions conditions and requirements. Travel between the islands required a craft that could make ground to windward on voyages into the northeast tradewinds. Their hull size was closely related to a unique form of currency used in the islands. Large stone disks of calcite represented currency, and they were quarried in Palau at the western end of the Caroline and Marinas island groups, and then traded around the other islands. They weighed in the order of two tonnes, and thus required a large craft for transport.
The model accurately reflects the shape, construction and configuration of the full size popo and along with models of other Pacific craft helps interpret the diverse design and construction of the many Oceanic outrigger craft.
SignificanceThe ‘popo’ canoe model from Yap, Caroline Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia is an accurate scale model of one of the important voyaging canoes that were used for exploration, migration and subsequent trade by the various Austronesian peoples who populated the Pacific. 
1969-1976
1969-1976
