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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]
Around 2850 BP, the Lapita people reached Tonga, and carbon dating places their landfall first in Tongatapu and then in Haʻapai soon after. [3] The newcomers were already well adapted to the resource-scarce island life and settled in small communities of a few households [3] on beaches just above high tide line that faced open lagoons or reefs.
Similarly, the northern islands were also settled from the east, with some of the northern islands possibly having had later interactions with Western Polynesia. [1] The capital Rarotonga , is known, from various oral histories to have been the launching site of seven waka ship voyagers who settled in New Zealand, becoming the major tribes of ...
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 ...
Nan Madol was the ceremonial and political seat of the Saudeleur Dynasty, which united Pohnpei's estimated population of 25,000 people until about 1628. [3] Set apart between the main island of Pohnpei and Temwen Island, it was a scene of human activity as early as the first or second century AD.
Individuals who were ungodly, godless, irreligious, wicked, unbelieving, or careless of observance of taboos, were known as ʻaiā. [23] [24] However, the dominant religion as in many other Polynesian societies, was the kapu/taboo religion. It had a theology, ritual, and a code of conduct. [25]
According to Rapa Nui mythology Hotu Matuꞌa was the legendary first settler and ariki mau ("supreme chief" or "king") of Easter Island. [1] Hotu Matu'a and his two-canoe (or one double-hulled canoe) colonising party were Polynesians from the now unknown land of Hiva Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva, Mount Oave, Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, Fenua.