Summary of the Polynesian Expansion Across the Pacific

The Journey of the Pacific People

The Pacific people left behind stories, pottery, and canoe designs.
They started their journey from small islands near New Guinea.
Their adventure took them to many places, eventually reaching New Zealand around 1000 CE.

When the Polynesians arrived in New Zealand, they became the Maori people.
The Maori adapted to their new homeland, which had forests and snowy mountains.
They kept Polynesian traditions, showing them through language, art, and tattoos.

Over a million years ago, ancient people first saw the Pacific Ocean from Asia.
Around 75,000 years ago, modern humans from Africa began their journey to Asia and then across the Pacific.
The explorers finally reached New Zealand about 1000 CE.

The Pacific Ocean is the biggest ocean on Earth, covering a third of its surface.
There are more than 20,000 islands in the Pacific, mostly tiny coral reefs and some high volcanoes.
The region has three sub-regions:
- Melanesia: Includes large islands like New Guinea with mountains and grasslands. Many people live here with diverse languages and traditions.
- Micronesia: Contains about 2,500 islands with different landscapes, from mountains to coral islands.
- Polynesia: This area stretches from Hawaii to Easter Island and New Zealand. It has rich soils and tropical plants but can also be hit by big storms.

The story of settling the Pacific islands is one of the greatest explorations in history.
It was very hard for people to reach these islands because of the vast ocean between them.

If you could put all the land on Earth in the Pacific Ocean, there would still be room for another huge continent!
The Pacific islands still show traces of the brave journeys of the Polynesian people.