Over about 25,000 years, these people, called the Polynesians, eventually colonized the islands of the south and western Pacific, from New Guinea in the west to Fiji and Samoa in the middle.
Polynesian Migration. The origin of Polynesians, an isolated population spanning hundreds of miles of ocean and islands, has long been regarded as an interesting puzzle in human migration patterns. While west-to-east migration is nearly universally accepted in the academic world, there is some interesting evidence suggesting prehistoric contact, if not migration, between Pacific Islanders and Amerindians in modern-day Peru. So the government went to the islands and told the Polynesians that there was work for them in NZ, the government allowed them to live in house's the government owned and they were able to send money back to there families. They use huge canoes that they made from hollowed out tree trunks and sails made out of woven flax these were called ra(sails) that were suspended on a mast and used a spirit to bring it up and take it down Save. Over about 25,000 years, these people, called the Polynesians, eventually colonized the islands of the south and western Pacific, from New Guinea in the west to Fiji and Samoa in the middle. Then they moved onward to Tahiti and finally Easter Island in the eastern south Pacific. About 30,000 years ago, human cultures along the western coastline of the Pacific Ocean -- in the area between what is now Australia and China -- started to migrate eastward across the great expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Then, from this nuclear region of East Polynesia, voyagers explored the length and breadth of the Polynesian triangle, reaching the distant islands of Hawai'i (by at least 400-500 AD), Easter Island (by about 400 AD), and New Zealand (around 1000 AD) to complete the settlement of Polynesia.  Polynesians likely originated from the Lapita people, who originated in Melanesia, the region north of Australia that includes the modern countries of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and New Caledonia. While west-to-east migration is nearly universally accepted in the academic world, there is some interesting evidence suggesting prehistoric contact, if not migration, between Pacific Islanders and Amerindians in modern-day Peru. The original migrants came from a region in East Polynesia which Māori later called Hawaiki. Bringing dogs and rats, taro and kūmara (sweet potato) to New Zealand, they found plenty of wildlife, including birds now extinct: the moa, a species of swan, and the giant Haast’s eagle. The Pacific was the first ocean to be explored. But New Zealand’s isolated islands, in the cold south-western waters of this ocean, were the last to be settled. Migration eastwards across the vast expanse of water occurred over thousands of years. Polynesian people are from the islands of the South Pacific. Polynesia is an area made up of thousands of islands that forms a rough triangle in the South Pacific; it … stretches from Hawaii in the north to Easter Island in the east, to New Zealand in the south west. They use huge canoes that they made from hollowed out tree trunks and sails made out of woven flax these were called ra(sails) that were suspended on a mast and used a spirit to bring it up and take it down Save. So the government went to the islands and told the Polynesians that there was work for them in NZ, the government allowed them to live in house's the government owned and they were able to send money back to there families. Polynesian peoples in New Zealand include the First Nation peoples the Maori, added to in more recent times by immigrants from many Pacific Islands, such as Cook Islands, Tong … a, Tokelau, Samoa, and so on. The Maori form the largest of these groups. MAORIS. FIND OUT MORE. Polynesia is a group of scattered islands in the vast Pacific Ocean. Around 2000 BC, families made long, dangerous journeys to settle there. The settlers arrived with pigs, dogs, and hens. They built thatched wooden houses, gathered bananas, coconuts, and breadfruit, and fished. The settlers’ ancestors came from southeast Asia, and had lived there for at least 30,000 years. Slowly, they moved to islands in the Pacific. By 1200 BC, they reached Tonga and Samoa, on the western edge of Polynesia.
http://www.sea.edu/spice_atlas/rangiroa_atlas/polynesian_migration http://www.answers.com/Q/Why_and_how_did_Polynesians_migrate http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/history-ocean/polynesian.html http://www.pbs.org/wayfinders/polynesian6.html http://www.sea.edu/spice_atlas/rangiroa_atlas/polynesian_migration http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/pacific-migrations http://www.answers.com/Q/Why_and_how_did_Polynesians_migrate http://www.answers.com/Q/Why_did_polynesians_migrate_to_New_Zealand http://www.factmonster.com/dk/encyclopedia/polynesia.html
why did the polynesians migrate