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985 BCE
Departed
our polynesian ancestors set out across the mighty Pacific Ocean to find New Zealand and discover more islands on the way. -
958 BCE
navigation
kupe didn't have a gps or google maps he just had to predict his way around but he new that the birds would come back from the island and go back to the island. And he new that he can look at the stars and see what way they were going -
300
Easter island
Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovered easter islnad in 1722. The Dutch named the island Paaseiland Easter Island to commemorate the day they arrived in 1770. -
801
Hawaii
1,500 years ago: Polynesians arrive in Hawaii after navigating the ocean using only the stars to guide them there. -
900
Fiji
Abel Tasman and Captain James Cook discovered the island Fiji in 1643.When Fiji’s first settlers arrived from the islands of Melanesia at least 3,500 years ago, they carried with them a wide range of food plants, the pig, and a style of pottery known as Lapita ware. -
900
Samoa
Jacob Roggeveen found samoa in 1722, but it wasn't until 1830 when the Reverend John Williams arrived. -
1000
Tahiti
Captain Samuel Wallis was the first documented explorer to discover the island of Tahiti in 1767.Tahiti has a long and rich history of the islands were first settled by migrating Polynesians as early as 500BC. -
1200
New Zealand
The first European to arrive in New Zealand was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. The name New Zealand comes from the name 'Nieuw Zeeland -
1223
Rarotonga
Pukapuka and Pedro Fernandex de Quiros in 1606 who sighted Rakahanga however it wasn't until 1773 when Captain James Cook discovered the Cook Islands. -
1300
Tonga
The first Europeans arrived in 1616, when the Dutch explorers Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire spotted Tongans in a canoe off the coast of Niuatoputapu.