Maori tattoo

Polynesian Expansion

By Xavier Packwood
  • 1000 BCE

    Inhabiting Polynesia

    The people of Lapita finish settling the Polynesian islands, including Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa and a few more.
  • Period: 1000 BCE to 1 CE

    Micronesia Settlement

    Polynesian explorers ventured north up to 1 CE to inhabit what is known today as Micronesia.
  • Period: 1 CE to 500

    Marshall Islands

    By the year 500 CE the Polynesians had inhabited a small group of islands in Micronesia called the Marshall Islands.
  • Further Expansion
    100

    Further Expansion

    It took the Polynesians ~100 years to settle on the Marquesas, Tuamotus and Society Islands.
  • Period: 300 to 800

    Hawaii

    Sometime during 300-800 CE a settlement was created on the island of Hawaii.
  • First signs of Expansion
    700

    First signs of Expansion

    Polynesians spread to settle Easter Island.
  • Period: 700 to

    Polynesian Expansion

    Exploration of New Zealand, the Cook Islands and many more.
  • Period: 800 to 1200

    Nga Kakano

    The East Polynesian period. The 1st and 2nd generation of Polynesian settlers, known as the Moa hunters.
  • 1150

    New Zealand

    ~1000 CE, the Polynesians sailed south to create a settlement on New Zealand, or "The Land of the Long White Cloud."
  • 1200

    Pitcairn Islands

    ~1200-1300 was when the Polynesians sailed from what is now know as French Polynesia to a small group of landmarks called the Pitcairn Islands.
  • 1512

    Direct European Contact

    First contact with Europeans from the Polynesians. Specifically the Portuguese, who sailed to the western edges of Polynesia.

  • Captain Cook's Arrival

    As of 1769, when Captain Cook arrived in the land of the long white cloud, the Maori population had already skyrocketed to ~150,000.