Polynesian

The Polynesian group spans the Polynesian Triangle: the Native Hawaiians, Māori of Aotearoa, Samoans, Tahitians, Tongans and the people of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. Their ancestors were Austronesian seafarers of Island Southeast Asia who read stars, currents, clouds and birds to cross the ocean.

Their canoes settled islands as far apart as Hawaii, Rapa Nui and New Zealand, and in the eighteenth century New Zealand held the largest Polynesian population, about 110,000. Tonga's chiefs extended their influence across nearby islands. The islands first met Europeans late: James Cook reached New Zealand in 1769 and Hawaii in 1778, and Kamehameha I united the Hawaiian islands by 1810.