The Regions: Polynesia

The following ojects originated in Polynesia:

The first Polynesians lived in Tonga and Samoa about 3,000 years ago. Some later sailed to the Marquesas Islands, a distance of about 3,300 km (2,000 miles) Ð one of the epic journeys of mankind. Later, pressure on land and other resources caused people to move on to Hawaii and the Society Islands (Tahiti), the Austral and Cook Islands and Aotearoa (New Zealand) about 1,000 years ago.

The traditional economy of Polynesians was based on the root crops taro and yam, breadfruit, chicken and pig, together with extensive use of plant fibres including coconut, pandanus and the paper mulberry. The latter is used especially in the making of barkcloth.

Central Polynesia appears to have had little contact with other cultural influences for over 800 years. The earliest European contact was in the 1760s with the voyages of Captains Wallis and Cook. Whalers, traders and missionaries arrived soon after that. European colonisation followed, the vestiges of which remain.

Political and religious organisation was similar throughout Polynesia. Chiefs traced descent from semi-divine ancestors. There were clear-cut divisions between nobles, commoners and slaves. The most extreme autocracy existed in the Hawaiian states, Society Islands (Tahiti), Samoa and Tonga.

Spirits of deified ancestors and of legendary cultural heroes are treated as sacred. Ceremonies for these deities and spirits are performed in marae, open-air meeting places. Powerful persons are especially imbued with mana, a force associated with high rank, to be treated with great respect.

Polynesians have been politically re-establishing themselves in recent years, for examples the Maori communities of Aotearoa, especially after the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1990.

To find out a little more about Polynesian history and culture visit the Iaora site.

Read more about Bond, Cook, Montague, Van Bussel and Veitch who collected these aretefacts