Was maritime route from Polynesia to South American continent conceivable before Age of Exploration?

by [deleted]

Before the Age of Discovery, was maritime route from Polynesia, traced from Asia - Indonesia / Phillipenes - Papua / Australia / Solomon Islands - Fiji / Samoa / New Zealand / Kiribati to South American continent conceivable? If so, what would be the constituents, and their purpose, and the age? Would it be principal? Or would it be too difficult / far to be principal route?

Also, how much the possibility could Hawaiian Island be integrated into this route? Or is it too far away north?

jschooltiger

The Polynesians explored and settled the Pacific as far east as Easter Island and as far north as Hawaii, so in that sense, yes, there were well-known maritime routes throughout the Polynesian cultural area that included Hawaii. Whether the Polynesians actually reached South America is debatable; I am not well read enough on the current historiography to offer a reliable answer. But it is certainly the case that the Polynesians could have reached South America; it's quite possible that they either had reached or were on the verge of reaching it around the time of Columbus's voyage.