hey there it's Kaeleigh in this lesson we're going to learn about the migration
of people to the Polynesian islands
Polynesia is typically described as the islands in the Pacific Ocean that are
inside the purple triangle on this map this is called the Polynesian triangle
some of these islands are very small and you may have never heard their names
before but I'm sure that you've heard one of these ones up here they make up
the state of Hawaii here are what these islands look like these are images from
cooks Bay and Oahu Hawaii scientists are continuing to find new evidence and
develop their theories about the Polynesian people's there is current
evidence that suggests that these people were great explorers
and they actually migrated to inhabit these islands that means they were
originally from a different place and traveled to each of these islands to
live scientists have used the languages spoken on the islands in the Polynesian
triangle and have found that they are similar to languages used in Southeast
Asia and they eventually linked these languages to originating in Taiwan this
little island here is Taiwan most scientists agree that the original
Polynesians left Taiwan and traveled through the Philippines and New Guinea
before traveling farther to the islands of the Polynesian triangle but some may
have also come from Taiwan through mainland Southeast Asia like Vietnam and
Cambodia before making their way to the Polynesian islands experts believe this
route to be true because along with sharing common languages many similar
artifacts have been found throughout these locations
in particular pottery has been found throughout the Polynesian triangle as
well as Southeast Asia and they have a similar style to this here if you look
closely you may see the intricate pattern on the side of the bowl this
pottery is from the Lapita culture and has been found in Papua New Guinea and
many other Polynesian islands like Samoa and Tonga after making their way from
Taiwan through the Philippines and on to the islands the Polynesians then
traveled north to Hawaii south to New Zealand and West to Easter Island these
points make up the corners of the Polynesian triangle but those are very
long distances across the Pacific Ocean so how did the Polynesians travel they
traveled by a special type of boat called a multi hold canoe like in this
image we see two canoes attached by wood this way more people could travel and
paddle these long distances together they used the Stars and the swell of the
ocean waves and the experiences of past explorers to navigate their way to new
islands this information was then passed on to younger travelers the Polynesians
were incredible navigators and explorers this double hold canoe is made by the
descendants of the original Polynesian explorers that live in Hawaii this
design is inspired by their ancestors boat designs and have led to the
modern-day catamaran sail boat while some of the building techniques and
navigation tools have been lost when the Europeans colonized these islands some
have been passed down for generations
great job learning about the migration of the Polynesian people practice what
you've learned about these amazing sailors and navigators by playing the
online games and quizzes have fun and remember to always be clever