answersLogoWhite

0

Where did surfing originate?

Updated: 9/28/2023
User Avatar

Wiki User

6y ago

Best Answer

When it comes to surfing's origins, they can be traced with reasonable accuracy to the people who set out some 3,500 years ago from somewhere new New Guinea to investigate the vast ocean to the east.

These people -- a mix of humans from the Philippines, Indonesia and perhaps other parts of eastern Asia -- spent the next 3,000 years settling the Pacific Ocean, becoming Micronesians, Melanesians and Polynesians, sailing from Samoa and Tonga to Tahiti, Hawaii and finally New Zealand, mostly in double hulled canoes without engines, compasses, clocks, or guns.

It was one of humankind's most extraordinary achievements but you won't read much about it at school because it didn't involve western Europeans or Americans.

In any case, as they went, these people invented surfing for fun, first among the kids of Samoa and probably New Guinea, then among the Tahitians (where adults took up the sport), then eventually among the Hawaiians, where surfing really blossomed during the second millennium, crossing the thin line between sport and cultural essential. When they first saw people surfing in the late 18th century in Tahiti and Hawaii, Europeans were completely stunned and very impressed; Captain James Cook's lieutenant King thought it appeared to be "a most supreme pleasure", and he was dead right (though he didn't actually try it).

But surfing was beaten out of the Hawaiians through the 19th century by missionaries and pissed-off traders who wanted the locals to work, not play, and it took much of the first half of the 20th century to revive it. Surfing spread outward from Hawaii through this period, eventually to almost every nation with rideable waves on its coastline, and its durability is best attested to by the fact that once it's been taken up, no nation has been able to stop.

AnswerAs I understand it started during WW2 when soldiers in the South Pacific saw a wing from a fighter plane wash up on the beach. A soldier tried taking the wing back out and rode it in. AnswerActually it is a old tradition started by the Hawiian people in the late 1800's. AnswerSurfing was developed by Hawaiian islanders before the 15th century, I believe. It spread to the California coast during the 1920s and became very popular with Americans in the 1960s. AnswerPolynesia

actually ladies surf boarding originated in the desert when a Arab rode a wing of a jumbo jet down a sand dune and then got steaming and thought lets try it in the sea.

User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar
More answers
User Avatar

Wiki User

15y ago

== ==

Surfing was invented by the polynesians and first seen by European travelers in Tahiti in the 1700s. They used whom used wooden planks which were longer than those used today and much heavier. Surfing was a big art of their culture and the best beaches and boards were reserved for the most important tribal members. It made aware to a wider audience in the "civilized" world by Admiral Cook, whom witnessed it in his visits of discovery. Duke Kahanamoku is the person that is generally recongised as bringing the sport of surfing to popularity in this century.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

15y ago

ancient Hawaiians, although some argue about Mayan culture in Peru having some sort of surfing. Traditionally its thought to be the ancient Hawaiians. Aloha brah

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

14y ago

surfing Begin in Hawaii and then spread around the world ppl wanted to go on water

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

14y ago

USA in Hawaii

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

6y ago

Hawaii
Maybe hawaii

This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: Where did surfing originate?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Related questions

In which US state did surfing originate?

Surfing was created in Hawaii.


What year did surfing originate?

along time ago


What is the spanish word for surfing?

surf surfing, surfriding acuaplano aquaplane, surfing, surfriding sorfeo surfing


What are the differences between sky surfing and surfing?

An sail surfing must be in the sail then? Sky surfing is in the sky. idiot.


What is pipeline surfing?

surfing in the barrell


How do you say surfing in welsh?

Surfing = "Syrffio" I like surfing "Rwy'n hoffi syrffio"


What can you do when surfing on the Internet?

You can keep dry whilst surfing on the inernet, this is something you can not do if you are surfing on the sea.


What is older skateboarding or surfing?

I think surfing,


Where is Surfing mostly held at?

Surfing is in Hawaii.


What is a good title for a surfing story?

surfing


When you are surfing through a wave it is called?

surfing


What is cyber surfing?

surfing on the cyber waves