Polynesians

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Polynesian people
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Polynesians
Total population
c. 3,200,000
Regions with significant populations
New Zealand1,157,478[1]
United States988,519[2]
Australia409,805
French Polynesiac. 215,000[3]
Samoa192,342
Tonga103,036
Cook Islands17,683
Canada10,760[4]
Tuvalu10,645[5]
Chile9,399[6]
Languages
Polynesian languages (Hawaiian, Māori, Rapa Nui, Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, Tuvaluan and others), English, French and
Polynesian mythology[8]
Related ethnic groups
other Austronesian peoples, Euronesians

Polynesians are an

Tongans and Cook Islands Māori.[citation needed
]

As of 2012[update] there were an estimated 2 million ethnic Polynesians (full and part) worldwide, the vast majority of whom either inhabit independent Polynesian nation-states (Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu) or form minorities in countries such as Australia, Chile (Easter Island), New Zealand, France (French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna), and the United States (Hawaii and American Samoa), in addition to the British Overseas Territory of the Pitcairn Islands. New Zealand had the highest population of Polynesians, estimated at 110,000 in the 18th century.[10]

Polynesians have acquired a reputation as great navigators—their canoes reached the most remote corners of the Pacific, allowing the settlement of islands as far apart as Hawaii, Rapanui (Easter Island) and Aotearoa (New Zealand).[11] The people of Polynesia accomplished this voyaging using ancient navigation skills of reading stars, currents, clouds and bird movements—skills passed to successive generations down to the present day.[12]

Origins

Main articles: Austronesian peoples and Polynesia § History
The Polynesian spread of colonization of the Pacific throughout the so-called Polynesian Triangle.

Polynesians, including

genetic,[14] linguistic[15] and archaeological evidence.[16]

Chronological dispersal of the Austronesian peoples[17]

There are

Pacific oceans. They were the first humans to cross vast distances of water on ocean-going boats.[18] Despite the popularity of rejected hypotheses, like Thor Heyerdahl's belief that Polynesians are descendants of "bearded white men" who sailed on primitive rafts from South America,[19][20] Polynesians are believed to have originated from a branch of the Austronesian migrations in Island Melanesia
.

The direct ancestors of the Polynesians are believed to be the

Marquesas. From here, they spread further to Hawaii by 900 AD, Easter Island by 1000 AD, and finally New Zealand by 1200 AD.[21][22]

Genetic studies

1827 depiction of Tahitian pahi double-hulled war canoes

Analysis by Kayser et al. (2008) discovered that only 21% of the Polynesian autosomal gene pool is of

Islander Southeast Asians. The study concluded that Polynesians moved through Melanesia fairly rapidly, allowing only limited admixture between Austronesians and Papuans.[24] Polynesians belong almost entirely to the Haplogroup B (mtDNA) especially to mtDNA B4a1a1 (Polynesian motif), and thus the high frequencies of mtDNA B4 in the Polynesians are the result of drift and represent the descendants of a few Austronesian females who mixed with Papuan males.[25] The Polynesian population experienced a founder effect and genetic drift due to the ancestors of Polynesian being very few in numbers.[26][27] As a result of founder effect, the Polynesian are distinctively different both genotypically and phenotypically from the parent population from which it is derived. This is due to new population being established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population which also causes a loss of genetic variation.[28][29]

Soares et al. (2008) have argued for an older pre-Holocene Sundaland origin in Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) based on mitochondrial DNA.[30] The "out of Taiwan model" was challenged by a study from Leeds University and published in Molecular Biology and Evolution. Examination of mitochondrial DNA lineages shows that they have been evolving in ISEA for longer than previously believed. Ancestors of the Polynesians arrived in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea at least 6,000 to 8,000 years ago.[31]

A 2014 study by Lipson et al. using

Island Southeast Asia and Melanesia.[32][33][34]

Other studies in 2016 and 2017 also support the implications that the earliest Lapita settlers mostly bypassed New Guinea, coming directly from

Papuans evident in the genetics of modern Polynesians (as well as Islander Melanesians) occurred after the settlement of Tonga and Vanuatu.[35][36][37]

A 2020 study found that the Polynesians and the Indigenous peoples of South America, came in contact around 1200, centuries before Europeans interacted with either group.[38][39]

People

Female dancers of the Hawaii Islands depicted by Louis Choris, c. 1816
A portrait of Māori man, by Gottfried Lindauer.
Kava ('ava) makers (aumaga) of Samoa. A woman seated between two men with the round tanoa (or laulau) wooden bowl in front. Standing is a third man, distributor of the 'ava, holding the coconut shell cup (tauau) used for distributing the beverage.

There are an estimated 2 million ethnic Polynesians and many of partial Polynesian descent worldwide, the majority of whom live in Polynesia, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.[40] The Polynesian peoples are shown below in their distinctive ethnic and cultural groupings (estimates of the larger groups are shown):

Polynesia:

Polynesian outliers:

See also

References

  1. ^ Population Movement in the Pacific: A Perspective on Future Prospects. Wellington: New Zealand Department of Labour Archived 7 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Chuukese and Papua New Guinean Populations Fastest Growing Pacific Islander Groups in 2020".
  3. ^ Landfalls of Paradise: Cruising Guide to the Pacific Islands, Earl R. Hinz & Jim Howard, University of Hawaii Press, 2006, page 80.
  4. ^ "Census Profile, 2016 Census". 8 February 2017.
  5. ^ "Population of communities in Tuvalu". world-statistics.org. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Síntesis de Resultados Censo 2017" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, Santiago de Chile. p. 16.
  7. ^ Christianity in its Global Context, 1970–2020 Society, Religion, and Mission, Center for the Study of Global Christianity
  8. ^ Wellington, Victoria University of (1 December 2017). "Arts, humanities and social sciences". victoria.ac.nz. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  9. ^ "Māori population estimates: At 30 June 2022". www.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  10. ^ King, Michael (2003). The Penguin History of New Zealand. London: Penguin. p. 91.
  11. PMID 21187404
    .
  12. ^ DOUCLEFF, MICHAELEEN (23 January 2013). "How The Sweet Potato Crossed The Pacific Way Before The Europeans Did". NPR. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  13. ISBN 9781920942854
    .
  14. PMC 1166355
    .
  15. ^ "Pacific People Spread From Taiwan, Language Evolution Study Shows". ScienceDaily. 27 January 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  16. ^ Pietrusewsky, Michael (2006). "Initial Settlement of remote Oceania: the evidence from physical anthropology". In Simanjuntak, T.; Pojoh, I.H.E.; Hisyam, M. (eds.). Austronesian Disapora and the Ethnogenesis of People in Indonesian Archipelago. Proceedings of the International Symposium. Jakarta: LIPI Press. pp. 320–347.
  17. ISBN 978-0470016176
    .
  18. ^ Dr. Martin Richards. "Climate Change and Postglacial Human Dispersals in Southeast Asia". Oxford Journals. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  19. S2CID 57559261
    .
  20. S2CID 164373747
    .
  21. ISBN 9781760460952
    .
  22. S2CID 128641903
    .
  23. PMID 18179899
    .
  24. PMID 18208337
    .
  25. ^ Assessing Y-chromosome Variation in the South Pacific Using Newly Detected, By Krista Erin Latham
  26. PMID 34552258
    .
  27. PMID 9671802
    .
  28. PMID 15280221
    .
  29. PMID 6777243
    .
  30. ^ Martin Richards. "Climate Change and Postglacial Human Dispersals in Southeast Asia". Oxford Journals. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  31. ^ DNA Sheds New Light on Polynesian Migration, by Sindya N. Bhanoo, Feb. 7, 2011, The New York Times
  32. PMID 25137359
    .
  33. PMID 25137359
    .
  34. PMID 16923821
    .
  35. PMID 27698418
    .
  36. PMID 27698418
    .
  37. ^ "First ancestry of Ni-Vanuatu is Asian: New DNA Discoveries recently published". Island Business. December 2016. Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  38. ^ "DNA reveals Native American presence in Polynesia centuries before Europeans arrived". Archived from the original on 10 July 2020.
  39. PMID 32641827
    .
  40. ^ "The Pacific Islands & New Zealand".
  41. ^ "Māori population estimates: At 30 June 2022 | Stats NZ". www.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  42. ^ "Ancestry | Australia | Community profile". profile.id.com.au. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  43. ^ "Cultural diversity: Census, 2021 | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2023.

External links

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