What are the origins of this fun-filled festive custom?
The most likely reason is because the land was already populated, unlike the deserted islands they encountered across the Pacific. As Kirch suggests, “They got up and left and went back.”
It has also been suggested that the sewn plank technology in the canoes (called tomols) used by the Chumash people of southern California are very similar to Polynesian vessels.
South American plants such as bottle gourds and sweet potatoes were also found at pre-Columbian Polynesian sites.
“It is extraordinary that the same nation should have spread themselves over all the isles in this vast ocean, from New Zealand to [Easter Island], which is almost a fourth part of the circumference of the globe,” wrote Captain James Cook.
Sources: (History) (The New York Times) (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
See also: History's lost and doomed expeditions
Some experts speculate these dispersed naturally, but others claim that it’s unlikely (e.g. a sweet potato tuber would likely sink in the ocean).
“Why would they have stopped? They would have kept going until they couldn’t find any more,” said Kirch.
Then, a 2020 study found “conclusive evidence for prehistoric contact of Polynesian individuals with Native American individuals (around AD 1200) contemporaneous with the settlement of remote Oceania.”
While Polynesians shared related languages and worshiped similar gods, most island chains had their own cultural differences as well. On Rapa Nui (Easter Island), for example, unique giant stone statues were built.
The results of the study indicate that “a single contact event occurred in eastern Polynesia, before the settlement of Rapa Nui, between Polynesian individuals and a Native American group most closely related to the indigenous inhabitants of present-day Colombia.”
“Where the sun rises, in Hawaiian understanding anyway, is a place where the gods reside and our ancestors,” says Marques Hanalei Marzan, cultural advisor at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.
Polynesian voyagers, aka wayfinders, made their way to the Cook Islands, the Society Islands (including Tahiti), the Marquesas Islands, and then the Hawaiian Islands.
Professor Kirch emphasizes how huge this is: “You can fit all of the continents into the Pacific Ocean.”
The Polynesians didn’t leave a written account of their feats, but they did pass down their accomplishments orally. This includes the fact that Hawaiians know their ancestors come from Tahiti.
The Polynesians were well ahead of the European explorers. In fact, it was not until the 15th century that the Europeans actually found success in their voyages.
The great Polynesian expansion is believed to have begun around 900 or 950 CE. “They now had the technological ability and the navigational ability to really get out there,” said Kirch.
These new vessels, called vaka moanas, were up to around 60 feet (18.3 m) long. They were large enough to carry a group of people along with livestock and crops. Pictured is a modern replica.
The Polynesians reached New Zealand circa 1250. By then, they had already located over 1,000 islands in at least 10 million square miles (25 million sq km) of the Pacific.
These were a rudimentary version of catamarans, tied together with coconut fiber rope. The sails were made from the leaves of pandanus trees.
It was during this long break that the Polynesian culture evolved in Tonga and Samoa. During this time, they invented much more efficient vessels: the double-hulled canoes.
“The Lapita were the first ones to get into remote Oceania. It was really a blank slate as far as humans were concerned,” said Patrick V. Kirch, an anthropology professor at the University of Hawaii.
The Lapita reached Tonga and Samoa around the 9th century BCE, but then there was a long pause in their expansion. This is likely because the nearest islands were too far away.
Given the expansion throughout the Pacific, many experts believe the Polynesians reached mainland South America.
It’s believed these ancestors mixed with the natives at the Bismarck Archipelago, and by around 1300 BCE a new culture, known as the Lapita, had developed.
The culture spread eastward to the Solomon Islands and then to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji.
Archaeological data indicates that they traveled south. First to the Philippines, and then to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.
It’s believed that the ancestors of the Polynesians originated in Taiwan or possibly the south China coast.
Polynesian voyagers crossed millions of miles throughout the Pacific without nautical instruments. They relied on reading nature's signs, and managed to find some of the world’s most remote places. But where did the Polynesians come from, really? Let’s take a look at their ancestry.
The ancient Polynesians were incredibly skilled navigators who managed to discover and settle on hundreds of islands across the Pacific. Their territory extended from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the southwest and Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the southeast. But did they go as far as the American continent?
In this gallery, we look back at Polynesian voyages and expansion and examine the evidence of their presence in the Americas. Click on to learn all about it.
A 2014 study found genetic information that links Polynesian DNA to an indigenous Brazilian tribe called the Botocudos.
Did Polynesians discover the Americas before Columbus?
Did these expert navigators reach the Americas first?
LIFESTYLE History
The ancient Polynesians were incredibly skilled navigators who managed to discover and settle on hundreds of islands across the Pacific. Their territory extended from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the southwest and Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the southeast. But did they go as far as the American continent?
In this gallery, we look back at Polynesian voyages and expansion and examine the evidence of their presence in the Americas. Click on to learn all about it.