Polynesian Triangle

 

A projection of the Polynesian triangle on the globe.

The Polynesian Triangle is a geographical region of the Pacific Ocean with Hawaiʻi (1), New Zealand (Aotearoa) (2) and Rapa Nui (3) at its corners. At the center is Tahiti (5), with Samoa (4) to the west.

The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawaiʻi, Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and New Zealand. It is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia.

The many island cultures within this vast triangle speak Polynesian languages, which are classified by linguists as part of the Oceanic subgroup of Malayo-Polynesian. They ultimately derive from the proto-Austronesian language spoken in Southeast Asia 5,000 years ago. Polynesians also share similar cultural traditions, arts, religion, and sciences. Anthropologists believe that all modern Polynesian cultures descend from a single protoculture established in the South Pacific by migrant Malayo-Polynesian people (see also Lapita).

Major Polynesian cultures include New Zealand Māori, Native Hawaiians, and the indigenous peoples of Easter Island, the Marquesas, Sāmoa, American Samoa, French Polynesia, the Cook Islands and Tonga.

There is also some evidence of Polynesian visits to some of the sub-Antarctic islands to the south of New Zealand, which are outside of Polynesia proper. A shard of pottery has been found in the Antipodes Islands, and is now in the Te Papa museum in Wellington, and there are also remains of a Polynesian settlement dating back to the 13th century on Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands.

There are also numerous Polynesian Outlier islands outside the triangle in neighboring Melanesia and Micronesia.