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Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Southeast Asia and are part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, with an Urheimat in Taiwan .
The sweet potato, which is of South American origin, is widely cultivated in Polynesia. This suggests that some interaction between the Polynesians and the indigenous peoples of South America may have taken place. [11] No Polynesian crops were introduced into the Americas, and there is possible evidence of Polynesian contact only in Chile. [12]
The large islands of New Zealand were first settled by Eastern Polynesians who adapted their culture to a non-tropical environment. Unlike western Melanesia, leaders were chosen in Polynesia based on their hereditary bloodline. Samoa, however, had another system of government that combines elements of heredity and real-world skills to choose ...
Boulders that were originally on a hill in Silverdale, Auckland, have been argued by Martin Doutré in a self-published 1999 book to be artefacts left by a pre-Polynesian Celtic population, who according to the theory came to be known as the patupaiarehe, and used the boulders as part of a system spanning around the area, used for calendar ...
The Lapita were highly skilled navigators and agriculturists with influence over a large area of the Pacific. From about the 11th century Polynesians also arrived and mixed with the populations of the archipelago. Europeans first sighted New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands in the late 18th century.
Polynesian culture is the culture of the indigenous peoples of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. The development of Polynesian culture is typically divided into four different historical eras: Exploration and settlement (c. 1800 BC – c. AD 700) Development in isolation (c. 700 – 1595)
As spiritual powers were perceived by Hawaiians to imbue all of nature, experts in many fields of work were known as kahuna, a term commonly understood to mean priest. [31] The various types of kahuna passed on knowledge of their profession, be it in "genealogies, or mele , or herb medicine, or canoe building, or land boundaries", [ 32 ] etc ...
It is believed that the Lapita people or the ancestors of the Polynesians settled the islands first but not much is known of what became of them after the Melanesians arrived; they may have had some influence on the new culture, and archaeological evidence shows that Polynesians would have then moved on to Tonga, Samoa, and even Hawai'i.