Polynesian Triangle Essay

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Polynesia is a portion of Oceana made up of 1,000+ islands. They are dispersed across the middle and lower portion of the Pacific Ocean. Polynesia consists of well-known Islands such as Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand. These Islands are also the islands that create the Polynesian Triangle which outlines the area defined as Polynesia. Other Islands located inside the triangle include Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Wallis, Futuna, Niue, Tuvalu, and French Polynesia. The settlements of the Polynesian people have also extended into New Guinea, Caroline Islands, Solomon Islands, Ratuma, and Vanuatu. Polynesia only makes up 1/3 of Oceana. The other 2/3s are made up by Micronesia and Melanesia. The Pacific Island people were originally from Taiwan until they …show more content…

The Polynesian Language was created as Fiji was experiencing a cultural divide and were developing on their own causing many similarities between the two languages. Originally, the people were both matrilineal and matrilocal but according to genetic results the ancestors of the people, who resided in Melanesia, only allowed men to marry into the area, but not women. This shows that they were mainly matrilocal in their ways and continued this through their laws. Eastern Polynesia, however, is suggested to have been settled in two different instances. The Society Islands first from 1025 AD – 1120 AD and then the rest throughout 1190-1290 AD. Politics, through evidence, began because of the Samoa-based Tu’I Manu’a Confederacy which was ruled by the Tu’I Manu’a (the oldest chieftain title). This confederacy spanned throughout almost all of western Polynesia. It wasn’t until about 1000 years ago that the Tonga’s revolted and formed an empire that dominated Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji. It’s influenced stretched from the north (Nauru) to the East

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