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As many have pointed out, various techniques involving the use of the sun/stars, wave patterns, wind patterns, etc. Polynesians were highly skilled navigators and they passed down these skills for generations. They did not find the islands accidentally as many would have you believe. If you are interested in further reading, I suggest researching people such as Nainoa Thompson, Mau Piailug, and Herb Kāne.
If you are interested in the cultural significance of your question, I recommend the book Hawaiki Rising by Sam Low. Navigation was/is a critical aspect of Polynesian culture, and the identities of the Polynesian people is very closely tied with the ocean. With the successful voyages of the Hōkūle’a beginning in the mid-to-late-70s there was a Polynesian cultural revival (specifically Hawaiian) that provided a renewed perspective on how these people navigated and how remarkably brilliant they were.
This will probably get buried (and maybe was already mentioned, but…
It’s not just the clouds, but the color on the underside of clouds. Lots of green reflects differently than blue or gray.
Also, I have see the current maps made by the Polynesians, which matches the description of what the Marshallese use. The only difference on the one I saw included sewed on little cowrie shells indicating the position of known islands.
No they, they used a wide variety of wayfinding techniques that others have mentioned – wave patterns, currents, maps, birds. Also you can tell if there are islands over the horizon based on cloud formations that gather over the land. They were incredibly skilled navigators – the sea was basically the core of their lifestyle.
The ancestors of Polynesians came from what is now Taiwan, apparently. Indigenous Taiwanese, that is, not the Han latecomers who followed Chiang Kai Shek off mainland China.
They went south and some populated SE Asia (becoming Indonesians, Malaysians and Filipinos), and others went on all over the Pacific as Polynesians. Southeast Asians learned ironworking, while Polynesians never found useable metal deposits on the islands and were stone-tech until European contact.
Curiously the Polynesians also had no tradition of pottery. They had gourds but no clay pots.
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I was listening to some podcasts on the subject. In addition to what other people said, they sent out active explorers looking for new islands and even had a standard way of organizing a new colonial fleet. It was very purposeful. The explorers did in some cases set off in random directions, but they had ways of looking for land as other people had already explaining, and knew now to reliably return.
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Couldn’t they follow birds? (Asking not telling)
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