Polynesian Migration
Polynesia is a large grouping of islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The origins of the indigenous people of the Polynesian islands are the subject of some debate, as are the reasons for their migration from one island to another. In about 3000 B.C.E, people living in the Bismarck Archipelago (a chain of islands in the neighboring region of Melanesia) began making pottery, keeping domesticated dogs, pigs, and chickens, and growing vegetables. Their culture was known as the Lapita culture, and the people were likely ethnic Chinese. In about 1300 B.C.E., they began to spread eastward into Polynesia. Over the next 2,300 years, they brought their culture to several islands there, including New Zealand, where the Polynesian settlers became known as the Maori people. Their long voyages were made in canoes approximately 65 feet (20 meters) long. These canoes carried crews of at least five and up to 15, with a supply of vegetables, live chickens and pigs, and water stored in gourds that could be augmented by collecting rainwater in sailcloth.
