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Pioneers -

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.

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Polynesian ancestry -

It’s believed that the ancestors of the Polynesians originated in Taiwan or possibly the south China coast.

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Polynesian ancestry -

Archaeological data indicates that they traveled south. First to the Philippines, and then to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.

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A new culture -

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.

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The Lapita spread across Oceania -

The culture spread eastward to the Solomon Islands and then to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji.

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Pioneers -

“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.

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Expansion -

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.

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The rise of Polynesian culture -

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.

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Canoes -

These were a rudimentary version of catamarans, tied together with coconut fiber rope. The sails were made from the leaves of pandanus trees.

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Canoes -

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.

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Polynesian expansion -

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.

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Polynesian expansion -

Polynesian voyagers, aka wayfinders, made their way to the Cook Islands, the Society Islands (including Tahiti), the Marquesas Islands, and then the Hawaiian Islands.

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Polynesian expansion -

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.

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It was a big deal -

Professor Kirch emphasizes how huge this is: “You can fit all of the continents into the Pacific Ocean.”

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They were ahead of the Europeans -

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.

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No writing system -

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.

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Oral tradition -

“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.

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Cultural differences -

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.

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Did they reach the Americas? -

Given the expansion throughout the Pacific, many experts believe the Polynesians reached mainland South America.

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Did they reach the Americas? -

“Why would they have stopped? They would have kept going until they couldn’t find any more,” said Kirch.

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First compelling evidence -

A 2014 study found genetic information that links Polynesian DNA to an indigenous Brazilian tribe called the Botocudos.

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More evidence -

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.”

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More evidence -

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.”

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Foods -

South American plants such as bottle gourds and sweet potatoes were also found at pre-Columbian Polynesian sites.

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Foods -

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).

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Chumash people’s canoes -

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.

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Why are there no Polynesian settlements in the Americas? -

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.”

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Praised by Europeans -

“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

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