Polynesians

Polynesians, people inhabiting a widely scattered group of islands, collectively known as Polynesia, in the South Pacific Ocean. The Polynesians are not indigenous to Polynesia; ethnologists differ as to their origin, but the most widely accepted view is that they were established in the Malay Archipelago in about the 2nd century bc, when they were driven eastwards by Malayan invaders. By the 13th and 14th centuries ad they first occupied the territory that they now inhabit.

Early Polynesian economy was based on cultivating taro and yams, gathering fruit and coconuts, fishing, and raising pigs. Polynesians were expert in canoe building and navigation. They used wood and plant fibres to make fishing nets, ropes, and cloth. Their houses, built of hardwood posts, were walled with lengths of bamboo and plaited palm leaves, and roofed with reed thatch. Metal was unknown, but, in New Zealand especially, stone was used for utensils and carved into axes, lance points, and religious figures. Woodcarving in intricate geometrical patterns was highly developed on many of the islands.

The religion of the Polynesians, still practised, is a form of animism—worship of animals and natural objects believed to possess supernatural powers. A supreme deity, Io, is also revered. The practice of religion as a moral code is largely conditioned by the system of taboo. In areas where the original social structure is maintained, organization is on the basis of the family, with an active head chosen by the elders through a system of mixed heredity and adoption. The family is patriarchal and polygamous.