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The Polynesian triangle. Between about 3000 and 1000 BC speakers of Austronesian languages spread through the islands of Southeast Asia – most likely starting out from Taiwan, [9] as tribes whose natives were thought to have previously arrived from mainland South China about 8000 years ago – into the edges of western Micronesia and on into Melanesia, through the Philippines and Indonesia.
The islands lie between 13° and 14° south latitude and 169° and 173° west longitude, and span an area of about 480 km (300 mi) from west to east. [10] The larger islands are volcanic in origin, mountainous, and covered in tropical moist forest. Some of the smaller islands are coral atolls with black sand beaches. [16] [17]
The first settlers on the Nā Pali Coast were Polynesian navigators around 1200 AD. Soon after, many Tahitian migrants followed, shaping the culture of Kauai and other Hawaiian islands today. The coast was a center for trade between Hanalei, Waimea and Niʻihau, and branched out to nearby island colonies.
Samoa, [note 1] officially the Independent State of Samoa [note 2] and known until 1997 as Western Samoa (Samoan: Sāmoa i Sisifo), is an island country in Polynesia, consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono and Apolima); and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands (Nuʻutele, Nuʻulua, Fanuatapu and Namua).
French navigator Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, was tasked by King Louis XVI with exploring the region to establish French influence and economic interests. Sailing with two ships, L’Astrolabe and La Boussole ("the Compass"), Lapérouse reached the Samoan archipelago, then known as the Navigator Islands, in December 1787. The ...
Pwo is a sacred initiation ritual, in which students of traditional navigation in the Caroline Islands in Micronesia become navigators (palu) and are initiated in the associated secrets. Many islanders in the area indicate that this ceremony originated on the island of Pollap, or nearby islands. The Pwo ceremony today is having a comeback in ...
Chromograph map of Samoa - George Cram 1896. The Samoan Islands were first settled some 3,500 years ago as part of the Austronesian expansion.Both Samoa's early history and its more recent history are strongly connected to the histories of Tonga and Fiji, nearby islands with which Samoa has long had genealogical links as well as shared cultural traditions.
The entire island group, inclusive of American Samoa, was known by Europeans as the Navigator Islands before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] General reference