Polynesia

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Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς "polys" many + νῆσος "nēsos" island) is a subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs.^[1]

The term "Polynesia" was first used by Charles de Brosses, a French writer, in 1756, and originally applied to all the islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a restriction on its use during a lecture to the Geographical Society of Paris.

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Geographic area 1.2 Island groups 1.2.1 Main Polynesia 1.2.2 Polynesian outliers 1.2.2.1 In Melanesia 1.2.2.2 In Micronesia 2 History of the Polynesian people 2.1 Mainstream theories 2.2 Political history of Polynesia 2.2.1 Tonga 1500s-present 2.2.2 Samoa Malietoa-present 2.2.3 Tahiti 2.2.4 Hawaii 2.2.5 New Zealand Maori 2.2.6 Fiji 2.2.7 Cook Islands 2.2.8 Tuvalu 2.3 Polynesian links to the Americas 3 Cultures of Polynesia 4 Polynesian languages 5 Economy 6 Polynesian navigation 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

Geography

Geographic area

Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian Triangle although this does not cover the geographic spread and settlement of Polynesian people across a greater area. Geographically, and oversimply, the Polynesian Triangle may be seen with its corners at Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island.

The other main island groups located within the Polynesian triangle are Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia.

There are also small outlier Polynesian enclaves in Papua New Guinea, the Solomons, The Caroline Islands, and in Vanuatu. An island group with strong Polynesian cultural affinities outside of this great triangle is Rotuma situated north of the Fijian islands; the people of Rotuma have an apparently Polynesian phenotype but speak a non-Polynesian language. Some of the Lau Islands to Fiji's southeast have strong historic and cultural links with Tonga.

However, in essence, Polynesia is an anthropological term referring to one of the three parts of Oceania (the others being Micronesia and Melanesia) whose pre-colonial population generally belongs to one ethno-cultural family as a result of centuries of maritime migrations.

Island groups

The following are the islands and island groups, either nations or subnational territories, that are of native Polynesian culture or where archaeological evidence indicates Polynesian settlement in the past.^[2] Some islands of Polynesian origin are outside the general triangle that geographically defines the region.

Main Polynesia

• American Samoa (overseas United States territory)
• Cook Islands (self-governing state in free association with New Zealand)
• Easter Island (called Rapa Nui in Rapa Nui, politically part of Chile)
• French Polynesia ("overseas territory", a territory of France)
• Hawaii (a state of the United States)
• New Zealand (independent nation)
• Niue (self-governing state in free association with New Zealand)
• Norfolk Island (an Australian External Territory)
• Pitcairn Islands (a British Overseas Territory)
• Samoa (independent nation)
• Tokelau (overseas dependency of New Zealand)
• Tonga (independent nation)
• Tuvalu (independent nation)
• Wallis and Futuna (overseas territory of France)

Polynesian outliers

In Melanesia

• Anuta (in the Solomon Islands)
• Mele (in Vanuatu)
• Bellona Island (in the Solomon Islands)
• Emae (in Vanuatu)
• Nuguria (in Papua New Guinea)
• Nukumanu (in Papua New Guinea)
• Ontong Java (in the Solomon Islands)
• Pileni (in the Solomon Islands)
• Rennell (in the Solomon Islands)
• Sikaiana (in the Solomon Islands)
• Takuu (in Papua New Guinea)
• Tikopia (in the Solomon Islands)

In Micronesia

• Kapingamarangi (in the Federated States of Micronesia)
• Nukuoro (in the Federated States of Micronesia)

History of the Polynesian people

Mainstream theories

The Polynesian people are considered to be by ancestry a subset of the sea-migrating Austronesian people and the tracing of Polynesian languages places their prehistoric origins in the Malay Archipelago.

There are three theories regarding the spread of humans across the Pacific to Polynesia. These are outlined well by Kayser et al. (2000)^[4] and are as follows:

• Express Train model: A recent (c. 3,000 years ago) expansion out of Southeast Asia, predominantly Taiwan, via Melanesia but with little genetic admixture between those migrating and the existing native population, reaching western Polynesian islands around 2,000 years ago. This theory is supported by the majority of current genetic, linguistic, and archaeological data.
• Entangled Bank model: Supposes a long history of cultural and genetic interactions amongst southeast Asians, Melanesians, and already-established Polynesians.
• Slow Boat model: Similar to the express-train model but with a longer hiatus in Melanesia along with admixture, both genetically, culturally and linguistically with the local population. This is supported by the Y-chromosome data of Kayser et al. (2000), which shows that all three haplotypes of Polynesian Y chromosomes can be traced back to Melanesia

Between about 3000 and 1000 BC speakers of Austronesian languages spread throughout the islands of Southeast Asia. These people, according to linguistic and archaeological evidence, originated from aborigines in Taiwan^[5][6][7] as tribes whose natives were thought to have arrived through South China about 8,000 years ago to the edges of western Micronesia and on into Melanesia, although they are different from the Han Chinese who now form the majority of people in China and Taiwan. In fact Taiwan, previously inhabited mostly by non-Han aborigines, was Sinicized via large-scale migration accompanied with assimilation during the 17th century.

In the archaeological record there are well-defined traces of this expansion which allow the path it took to be followed and dated with a degree of certainty. It is thought that roughly 3,500 years ago,^[8] the Lapita culture appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago, northwest Melanesia. This culture is argued to have either been developed there or, more likely, to have spread from China/Taiwan. The most eastern site for Lapita archaeological remains recovered so far through archaeology in Samoa is at Mulifanua on Upolu. The Mulifanua site, where 4,288 pottery shards have been found and studied, has a true age of circa 3,000 BP based on C14 dating.^[9]

Within a mere three or four centuries between about 1300 and 900 BC, the Lapita culture spread 6,000 km further to the east from the Bismarck Archipelago, until it reached as far as Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa which were populated around 2,000 years ago.^[6] In this region, the distinctive Polynesian culture developed.

The spread of pottery and domesticates in Polynesia are connected with the Lapita culture that started expanding from New Guinea to as far east as Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. During this time the aspects of the Polynesian culture developed. Around 300 BC this new Polynesian people spread eastward from Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga to the Cook Islands, Tahiti, the Tuamotus, and the Marquesas Islands. This was supported by Patrick Kirch and Marshall Weisler when they performed X-ray fluorescence sourcing of basalt artifacts found on both islands.^[10]

Between AD 300 and 500, the Polynesians discovered and settled Easter Island. This is supported by archaeological evidence as well as the introduction of flora and fauna consistent with the Polynesian culture and characteristic of the tropics to this subtropical island. However, more recently, Jared Diamond and others have proposed the date of arrival to be closer to 800 AD, as scientific uncertainty clouded the evidence of an earlier arrival. Furthermore, Terry Hunt of the University of Hawaii has proposed that the arrival did not take place until approximately 1200 AD. Around AD 500, Hawai'i was settled by the Polynesians and around AD 1280 New Zealand was settled as well.

However, a 2010 meta-analysis of the most reliable radiocarbon dates available suggested that the colonization of Eastern Polynesia (including Hawaii and New Zealand) instead proceeded in two short episodes: in the Society Islands from 1025-1120 and further afield from 1190-1290.^[11]

Political history of Polynesia

The Lapita culture in Fiji (3500 BCE) and in much of Melanesia was largely displaced by Austronesian-speaking New Guinea and/or Solomon Island aborigenes around 4500 years ago. (See: Lapita, History of Fiji.)

Perhaps the oldest extensive political entity was that of the Samoa-based Tu'i Manu'a Confederacy, ruled by the holders of the Tu'i Manu'a title, which may well be the oldest chieftain title in Polynesia. This confederacy likely espoused much of Western Polynesia and some outliers; most notably: the Lau Islands and perhaps the main islands of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The Tongans revolted around 1000 years ago and formed their own Tu'i Tonga empire that came to dominate Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, with an influence stretching from Nauru in the Northwest, to Niue in the East. The empire ruled for much of the Medieval period, until the Samoan revolt and subsequent rise of the Malietoa dynasties in Samoa, and ended with their capitulation to the Tongan Tu'i Ha'atakalaua dynasty in the 15th century.

Tonga 1500s-present

After a bloody civil war, political power in Tonga eventually fell under the Tu'i Kanokupolu dynasty in the 16th century.

In 1845 the ambitious young warrior, strategist, and orator Tāufaʻāhau united Tonga into more Western-style kingdom. He held the chiefly title of Tuʻi Kanokupolu, but had been baptised[by whom?] with the name Jiaoji ("George") in 1831. In 1875, with the help of missionary Shirley Waldemar Baker, he declared Tonga a constitutional monarchy, formally adopted the western royal style, emancipated the "serfs", enshrined a code of law, land tenure, and freedom of the press, and limited the power of the chiefs.

Tonga became a British-protected state under a Treaty of Friendship on 18 May 1900, when European settlers and rival Tongan chiefs tried to oust the second king. Within the British Empire, which posted no higher permanent representative on Tonga than a British Consul (1901–1970), Tonga formed part of the British Western Pacific Territories (under a colonial High Commissioner, residing on Fiji) from 1901 until 1952. Despite being under the protectorate, Tonga retained its monarchy without interruption.

On June 4, 1970 the Kingdom of Tonga received independence from the British protectorate.

Samoa Malietoa-present

Samoa remained under Malietoa chieftains until its East-West division by Tripartite Convention (1899) subsequent annexation by the German Empire and the United States. The German-controlled Western portion of Samoa (the consisting of the bulk of Samoan territory) was occupied by New Zealand in WWI, and administered by it under a Class C League of Nations Mandate until receiving independence on January 1 1962. The new Independent State of Samoa was not a monarchy, though the Malietoa title-holder remained very influential. It officially ended, however with the death of Malietoa Tanumafili II on May 11, 2007.

Tahiti

See: Pomare Dynasty.

Hawaii

See: Kingdom of Hawaii.

New Zealand Maori

Various iwi chieftains managed to gain political hegemony over large portions of the New Zealand landmass and population.

The Ngāi Tahu iwi under Te Rauparaha conquered most of South Island, and is arguably the most landed indigenous Polynesian political entity known to have existed, comprising over 50,000 sq. miles of the South Island.

On October 28, 1835 the Nga Puhi and surrounding iwi became a confederation of tribes to resist potential French colonization efforts and to prevent the ships and cargo of Maori merchants from being seized at foreign ports. They received recognition from the British monarch in 1836. (See United Tribes of New Zealand, New Zealand Declaration of Independence.)

Using the Treaty of Waitangi and Captain Cook's 18th century navigation of New Zealand as a basis, the United Kingdom annexed New Zealand as a part of New South Wales in 1840. Though the legitimacy of this is disputed, hotly in some cases, to this day, the British settler government of New Zealand remains the present de facto political authority over the landmass, if not de jure.

In response to European encroachment, relatives of Te Ruaparaha looked to create a Maori monarchy inclusive of all Maori tribes in order to reduce vulnerability to the British divide-and-conquer strategy, believing that a union of Maori tribes would be much stronger than a multitude of hostile tribes. Pōtatau Te Wherowhero of the Ngāti Mahuta hapu of the Waikato iwi was crowned as the Maori King in the June of 1858. Only a handful of iwi lived under the King, and his territory consisted primarily of the lands in the center of New Zealand's North Island. (See Kingitanga.) Also noteworthy, the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand flew at the king's crowning ceremony.

Since the wording of the Maori version of the treaty doesn't convey the message of a transfer of sovereignty, and the British claim to South Island is based on an illegal claim to right of discovery -- the Maori would already living there would have needed to be non-humans for it to have been proper and licit, something that has been proven to be untrue -- South Island might be solely under the jurisdiction of the tribes, and the same may be so for the entire landmass. This is, again, a politically sensitive issue.

Fiji

(See: History of Fiji, Seru Epenisa Cakobau, Fiji during the time of Cakobau.)

The Lau islands had after the Tu'i Mana'u dynasty were subject to periods of Tongan and then Fijian control until their eventual conquest by Seru Epenisa Cakobau of the Kingdom of Fiji by 1871. In around 1855 a Tongan prince, Enele Ma'afu, proclaimed the Lau islands as his kingdom, and took the title Tui Lau.

Fiji itself had been ruled by numerous divided chieftains until Cakobau unified the landmass. The Lapita culture, the ancestors of the Polynesians, existed in Fiji from 3500 BCE until they were displaced by the Melanesians about a thousand years later. (Interestingly, Samoans and subsequent Polynesian cultures adopted Melanesian face painting methods.)

In 1873, Cakobau ceded a Fiji heavily indebted to foreign creditors to the United Kingdom. It became independent on 10 October 1970 and a republic on 28 September 1987.

Cook Islands

See: Kingdom of Rarotonga.

Tuvalu

The islands were perhaps visited by Tongans in the 13th century, and had, since their habitation, been within the Tongan sphere of influence. The British made the Ellis Islands a protectorate in 1892. The country received its independence on October 1, 1978. (See: History of Tuvalu.)

Polynesian links to the Americas

The sweet potato, called kūmara in Māori, which is native to the Americas, was widespread in Polynesia when Europeans first reached the Pacific. Remains of the plant have been radiocarbon-dated in the Cook Islands to 1000 AD, and current thinking is that it was brought to central Polynesia circa 700 CE and spread across Polynesia from there, possibly by Polynesians who had traveled to South America and back.^[12]

Thor Heyerdahl proposed in the mid-20th century that the Polynesians had migrated from South America on balsa-log boats.^[13][14] Many anthropologists have criticised Heyerdahl's theory, including Wade Davis in his book The Wayfinders. Davis says that Heyerdahl "ignored the overwhelming body of linguistic, ethnographic, and ethnobotanical evidence, augmented today by genetic and archaeological data, indicating that he was patently wrong."^[15]

Cultures of Polynesia

Polynesia divides into two distinct cultural groups, East Polynesia and West Polynesia. The culture of West Polynesia is conditioned to high populations. It has strong institutions of marriage and well-developed judicial, monetary and trading traditions. It comprises the groups of Tonga, Niue, Samoa and the northwestern Polynesian outliers.

Eastern Polynesian cultures are highly adapted to smaller islands and atolls, principally the Cook Islands, Tahiti, the Tuamotus, the Marquesas, Hawaii, Rapa Nui and smaller central-pacific groups. The large islands of New Zealand were first settled by Eastern Polynesians who adapted their culture to a non-tropical environment.

Unlike in Melanesia, leaders were chosen in Polynesia based on their hereditary bloodline. Samoa however, had another system of government that combines elements of heredity and real-world skills to choose leaders. This system is called Fa'amatai.^[16] According to Ben R. Finney and Eric M. Jones, "On Tahiti, for example, the 35,000 Polynesians living there at the time of European discovery were divided between high-status persons with full access to food and other resources, and low-status persons with limited access."^[17]

Religion, farming, fishing, weather prediction, out-rigger canoe (similar to modern catamarans) construction and navigation were highly developed skills because the population of an entire island depended on them. Trading of both luxuries and mundane items was important to all groups. Periodic droughts and subsequent famines often lead to war.^[17] Many low-lying islands could suffer severe famine if their gardens were poisoned by the salt from the storm-surge of a hurricane. In these cases fishing, the primary source of protein, would not ease loss of food energy. Navigators, in particular, were highly respected and each island maintained a house of navigation with a canoe-building area.

Settlements by the Polynesians were of two categories: the hamlet and the village. Size of the island inhabited determined whether or a not a hamlet would be built. The larger volcanic islands usually had hamlets because of the many zones that could be divided across the island. Food and resources were more plentiful and so these settlements of four to five houses (usually with gardens) were established so that there would be no overlap between the zones. Villages, on the other hand, were built on the coasts of smaller islands and consisted of thirty or more houses—in the case of atolls, on only one of the group so that food cultivation was on the others. Usually these villages were fortified with walls and palisades made of stone and wood.^[18]

However, New Zealand demonstrates the opposite: large volcanic islands with fortified villages.

As well as being great navigators these people were artists and artisans of great skill. Simple objects, such as fish-hooks would be manufactured to exacting standards for different catches and decorated even when the decoration was not part of the function. Stone and wooden weapons were considered to be more powerful the better they were made and decorated. In some island groups weaving was a strong part of the culture and gifting woven articles an ingrained practice. Dwellings were imbued with character by the skill of their building. Body decoration and jewellery is of international standard to this day.

The religious attributes of Polynesians were common over the whole Pacific region. While there are some differences in their spoken languages they largely have the same explanation for the creation of the earth and sky, for the gods that rule aspects of life and for the religious practices of everyday life. People travelled thousands of miles to celebrations that they all owned communally.

Due to relatively large numbers of competitive sects of Christian missionaries in the islands, many Polynesian groups have been converted to Christianity. Polynesian languages are all members of the family of Oceanic languages, a sub-branch of the Austronesian language family.

Polynesian languages

Polynesian languages show a considerable degree of similarity. The vowels are generally the same—a, e, i, o, and u, pronounced as in Italian, Spanish, and German—and the consonants are always followed by a vowel. The languages of various island groups show changes in consonants. R and v are used in central and eastern Polynesia whereas l and v are used in western Polynesia. The glottal stop is increasingly represented by an inverted comma or 'okina. In the Society Islands, the original Proto-Polynesian *k and *ng have merged as glottal stop; so the name for the ancestral homeland, deriving from Proto-Nuclear Polynesian *sawaiki,^[19] becomes Havai‘i. In New Zealand, where the original *w is used instead of v, the ancient home is Hawaiki. In the Cook Islands, where the glottal stop replaces the original *s (with a likely intermediate stage of *h), it is ‘Avaiki. In the Hawaiian islands, where the glottal stop replaces the original k, the largest island of the group is named Hawai‘i. In Samoa, where the original s is used instead of h, v replaces w, and the glottal stop replaces the original k, the largest island is called Savai'i.^[1]

Economy

With the exception of New Zealand, the majority of independent Polynesian islands derive much of their income from foreign aid and remittances from those who live in other countries. Some encourage their young people to go where they can earn good money to remit to their stay-at-home relatives. Many Polynesian locations, such as Easter Island, supplement this with tourism income.^[20] Some have more unusual sources of income, such as Tuvalu which marketed its '.tv' internet top-level domain name^[21] or the Cooks that relied on stamp sales.

Polynesian navigation

Polynesia comprised islands diffused throughout a triangular area with sides of four thousand miles. The area from the Hawaiian Islands in the north, to Easter Island in the east and to New Zealand in the south were all settled by Polynesians.

Navigators traveled to small inhabited islands using only their own senses and knowledge passed by oral tradition from navigator to apprentice. In order to locate directions at various times of day and year, navigators in Eastern Polynesia memorized important facts: the motion of specific stars, and where they would rise on the horizon of the ocean; weather; times of travel; wildlife species (which congregate at particular positions); directions of swells on the ocean, and how the crew would feel their motion; colors of the sea and sky, especially how clouds would cluster at the locations of some islands; and angles for approaching harbors.

These wayfinding techniques along with outrigger canoe construction methods, were kept as guild secrets. Generally each island maintained a guild of navigators who had very high status; in times of famine or difficulty these navigators could trade for aid or evacuate people to neighboring islands. To this day, original traditional methods of Polynesian Navigation are still taught in the Polynesian outlier of Taumako Island in the Solomon Islands.

From a single chicken bone recovered from the archaeological site of El Arenal-1, on the Arauco Peninsula, Chile, a 2007 research report looking at radiocarbon dating and an ancient DNA sequence indicate that Polynesian navigators may have reached the Americas at least 100 years before Columbus (who arrived 1492 AD), introducing chickens to South America.^[22][23] A later report looking at the same specimens concluded:

A published, apparently pre-Columbian, Chilean specimen and six pre-European Polynesian specimens also cluster with the same European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian sequences, providing no support for a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America. In contrast, sequences from two archaeological sites on Easter Island group with an uncommon haplogroup from Indonesia, Japan, and China and may represent a genetic signature of an early Polynesian dispersal. Modeling of the potential marine carbon contribution to the Chilean archaeological specimen casts further doubt on claims for pre-Columbian chickens, and definitive proof will require further analyses of ancient DNA sequences and radiocarbon and stable isotope data from archaeological excavations within both Chile and Polynesia.^[24]

Knowledge of the traditional Polynesian methods of navigation were largely lost after contact with and colonization by Europeans. This left the problem of accounting for the presence of the Polynesians in such isolated and scattered parts of the Pacific. By the late 19th century to the early 20th century a more generous view of Polynesian navigation had come into favor, perhaps creating a romantic picture of their canoes, seamanship and navigational expertise.

In the mid to late 1960s, scholars began testing sailing and paddling experiments related to Polynesian navigation: David Lewis sailed his catamaran from Tahiti to New Zealand using stellar navigation without instruments and Ben Finney built a 40-foot replica of a Hawaiian double canoe "Nalehia" and tested it in Hawaii. Meanwhile, Micronesian ethnographic research in the Caroline Islands revealed that traditional stellar navigational methods were still in every day use. Recent re-creations of Polynesian voyaging have used methods based largely on Micronesian methods and the teachings of a Micronesian navigator, Mau Piailug.

It is probable that the Polynesian navigators employed a whole range of techniques including use of the stars, the movement of ocean currents and wave patterns, the air and sea interference patterns caused by islands and atolls, the flight of birds, the winds and the weather. Scientists think that long-distance Polynesian voyaging followed the seasonal paths of birds. There are some references in their oral traditions to the flight of birds and some say that there were range marks onshore pointing to distant islands in line with these flyways. One theory is that they would have taken a frigatebird with them. These birds refuse to land on the water as their feathers will become waterlogged making it impossible to fly. When the voyagers thought they were close to land they may have released the bird, which would either fly towards land or else return to the canoe. It is likely that the Polynesians also used wave and swell formations to navigate. It is thought that the Polynesian navigators may have measured the time it took to sail between islands in "canoe-days’’ or a similar type of expression.

Also, people of the Marshall Islands used special devices called stick charts, showing the places and directions of swells and wave-breaks, with tiny seashells affixed to them to mark the positions of islands along the way. Materials for these maps were readily available on beaches, and their making was simple; however, their effective use needed years and years of study.^[25]

See also

• French Polynesia
• List of Polynesians
• Polynesian languages
• Polynesian mythology
• Polynesian people
• Polynesian Society
• Polynesian Voyaging Society
• Society Islands
• Melanesia
• Micronesia

Notes

References

• Finney, Ben R. (1976) (editor). Pacific Navigation and Voyaging, The Polynesian Society Corp.
  • Finney, Ben R. (1976). "New, Non-Armchair Research". In Ben R. Finney (1963), Pacific Navigation and Voyaging, The Polynesian Society Inc.
• Gatty, Harold (1999). Finding Your Ways Without Map or Compass. Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-40613-X. 
• Kayser, M., Brauer, S., Weiss, G., Underhill, P. A., Roewer, L., SchiefenhÅ¡fel, W., and Stoneking, M. (2000). "Melanesian Origin of Polynesian Y Chromosomes". Current Biology, 2000, volume 10, pages 1237–1246.
• Kayser, M., Brauer, S., Weiss, G., Underhill, P. A., Roewer, L., SchiefenhÅ¡fel, W., and Stoneking, M. (2000). "Melanesian Origin of Polynesian Y Chromosomes (correction)". Current Biology, 2000, volume 11, pages 1–2.
• Lewis, David (1976). "A Return Voyage Between Puluwat and Saipan Using Micronesian Navigational Techniques". In Ben R. Finney (1963), Pacific Navigation and Voyaging, The Polynesian Society Inc.
• Sharp, Andrew (1963). Ancient Voyagers in Polynesia, Longman Paul Ltd.

External links

Look up [//en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/polynesia polynesia] in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• History of Easter Island illustrated by stamps
• Interview with David Lewis
• Lewis commenting on Spirits of the Voyage
• Map South Pacific
• Obituary: David Henry Lewis—including how he came to rediscover Pacific Ocean navigation methods
• Photogallery—French Polynesia (Tahiti, Moorea, Motu Tiahura)
• South Pacific Organizer
• Useful introduction to Maori society, including canoe voyages

v d e Polynesia Polynesian triangle Austral Islands Cook Islands Easter Island Gambier Islands Hawaiian Islands Marquesas New Zealand Pitcairn Islands Sala y Gómez Rotuma Samoan Islands Society Islands Tokelau Tonga Tuamotus Tuvalu Wallis and Futuna Islands Polynesian outliers Anuta Emae Futuna Kapingamarangi Loyalty Islands Mele Nuguria Nukumanu Nukuoro Ontong Java Ouvéa Pileni Rennell Sikaiana Takuu Tikopia Polynesian-influenced Lau Islands

v d e Countries and territories of Oceania Sovereign states Australia Chile Easter Island Juan Fernández Islands Cook Islands East Timor (Timor-Leste) Fiji Indonesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Japan Bonin Islands Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu United States Hawaii Palmyra Atoll Vanuatu Dependencies and other territories Australia Ashmore and Cartier Islands Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Coral Sea Islands Territory Norfolk Island France Clipperton Island French Polynesia New Caledonia Wallis and Futuna New Zealand Niue Tokelau United Kingdom Pitcairn Islands United States American Samoa Baker Island Guam Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll Northern Mariana Islands Wake Island

v d e Culture of indigenous Oceania List of resources about traditional arts and culture of Oceania Art ahu · Australia · Austronesia · Cook Islands · Hawaiʻi · kapa (Hawaiʻi) · lei (Hawaii) · magimagi · Māori · moai · New Zealand · nguzu nguzu · Oceania · Papua New Guinea · reimiro · tā moko · tapa ["masi" (Fiji), "ngatu" (Tonga), "siapo" (Sāmoa), " ʻuha" (Rotuma)] · tabua · ta'ovala · tattoo · tēfui · tivaivai Broad culture areca nut · Kava culture · kava, [" ʻawa" (Hawaii), "yaqona" (Fiji), or "sakau" (Pohnpei) · Sāmoa 'ava ceremony] · Lapita · Māori · Polynesia · Polynesian navigation · wood carving Geo-specific, general Australia · Australian Aboriginal astronomy · Austronesia · Caroline Islands, -Pwo · Chatham Islands · Cook Islands · Easter Island · Fiji, -Lau Islands, -traditions and ceremonies · Guam · Hawaiʻi, -Lomilomi massage · Kiribati · French Polynesia's Marquesas Islands · Marshall Islands, -Stick charts of · Federated States of Micronesia · Nauru · New Caledonia · New Zealand · Niue · Norfolk Island · Palau · Papua New Guinea · Pitcairn Islands · Sāmoa · Solomon Islands · Tonga · Torres Strait Islands · Tuvalu · Vanuatu · Wallis and Futuna · Yap, -navigation, -Weriyeng navigation school Canoes Aboriginal Dugout · Alingano Maisu · Drua · Dugout (boat) · Hawaiʻiloa · Hōkūleʻa · Modern Hawaiian outrigger · Māori migration · Outrigger · Polynesian sailing · Proa · Waka,-List of · Walap Dance 'aparima · cibi · fara · fire dancing · firewalking · haka · hivinau · hula · kailao · kapa haka · Kiribati · meke · 'ote'a · pa'o'a · poi · Rotuma · siva · Tahiti · tāmūrē · tautoga · Tonga · 'upa'upa Festivals Australia's Garma Festival · Hawaiʻi's Aloha Festivals, Merrie Monarch Festival, and World Invitational Hula Festival · Fiji · New Zealand's Pasifika Festival · The Pacific Community's Festival of Pacific Arts · Festivals in Papua New Guinea Languages by area v d e Languages of Oceania Sovereign states Australia Cook Islands East Timor (Timor-Leste) Fiji Indonesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Dependencies and other territories American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna by category Languages of Oceania Literature v d e Literature of Oceania Sovereign states Australia Cook Islands East Timor (Timor-Leste) Fiji Indonesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Dependencies and other territories American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna Music Austral Islands (French Polynesia) · Australia · Austronesia · Cook Islands · Easter Island · Fiji · Guam · Hawaiʻi · Kiribati · Lali · Māori · Melanesia · Northern Mariana Islands · Micronesia · Federated States of Micronesia · Nauru · New Caledonia · New Zealand · Niue · Palau · Papua New Guinea · Polynesia · Sāmoa · Slit drum · Solomon Islands · Tahiti · Tokelau · Tonga · Tuvalu · Vanuatu · Wallis and Futuna Mythology Australian Aboriginal · Fijian · Māori · Melanesian · Menehune · Micronesian · Oceanian legendary creatures · Polynesian · Rapa Nui · Vanuatu People Indigneous Australian · Austronesian · Chamorro · Chatham Islander (Moriori or Rekohu) · Fijian · Hawaiian (kānaka maoli) · Māori · Marshallese · Melanesian · Micronesian · Negrito · Norfolk Islander · Papuan · Polynesian · Indigenous Polynesian (Mā’ohi) · Rapanui · Rotuman · Samoan · Tahitian · Tongan · Torres Strait Islander Religion v d e Religion in Oceania Sovereign states Australia Cook Islands East Timor (Timor-Leste) Fiji Indonesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Dependencies and other territories American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna Not included: Oceanian: cinema, (indigenous) currency, dress, folkore, cuisine. Also see Category:Oceanian culture.

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