polynesian history

Tracing Polynesian languages places their prehistoric origins in the Malay in Taiwan. Between about 3000 and 1000 speakers of Austronesian languages began spreading from Taiwan into Island Southeast Asia.

The unassuming sweet potato has been at the centre of a decades-long debate about when ancient peoples in the Americas and Polynesia first made contact. The prevailing explanation is that Polynesian voyagers had sailed to South America and brought the sweet potato back to the islands on their return.

Polynesian explorers. About 3,000 years ago Polynesian culture developed in West Polynesia. Skilled navigators in double-hulled canoes gradually discovered remote islands to the east, using their knowledge of the stars and the winds to return home safely. Groups would then set off to start.

I think Polynesia comprised islands diffused throughout a triangular area with sides of four thousand miles. The area from the Hawaiian Islands in the north, to Easter Island in the east and to New Zealand in the south were all settled by Polynesians.

Polynesian culture developed at the eastern edge of this region in Samoa and Tonga. Around 300 B.C. or earlier, seafarers from Samoa and Tonga discovered and settled islands to the east – the Cook Islands, Tahiti-nui, Tuamotus, and Hiva Marquesas Islands.