How Polynesians Settled the Pacific

In October 2026 a study in Science found that Native Hawaiians and the people of Rapa Nui, about 7,100 km apart, are, of all Polynesians, the most closely related, descended from one voyaging people of eastern Polynesia. This film explains the voyages behind that result: how speakers of Austronesian languages and the Lapita culture spread into the Pacific, how East Polynesia was reached in a burst around AD 1000 to 1300, how double-hulled canoes carried families, plants and animals, how navigators found islands with a star compass, swells, birds and clouds, how they met the Americas, and how the voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa revived the art fifty years ago.

Finding islands without a map

How Polynesians settled the Pacific.

Out of Asia

A family of languages across half the world.

The canoe

Two hulls, a deck, and a whole new home on board.

Reading sky and sea

A compass in the navigator’s mind.

The triangle

Three corners, one people.

The revival

Proving it could be done.

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