 They landed at Anakena beach and his people spread out across the island, sub-divided it between clans claiming descent from his sons, and lived for more than a thousand years in their isolated island home at the southeastern tip of the Polynesian Triangle.Polynesians first came to Rapa Nui (also called Easter Island) sometime between 300 CE and 800 CE.These are the common elements of oral history that have been extracted from island legends.