Story: Pacific migrations
It is commonly held that the ultimate ancestors of Polynesians originated in the area around Taiwan and then moved south and east. They mixed with other Melanesian peoples already living in Near Oceania, and over time the culture known as Lapita developed. Lapita people eventually settled Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, where the Polynesian culture emerged. During the first millennium AD Polynesians sailed east into French Polynesia and the Marquesas, and then migrated to Hawaii (600 AD) and Easter Island (700 AD). New Zealand was the last major land mass to be settled, around 1250–1300 AD.
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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
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