Polynesia

Polynesians descend from Lapita voyagers who reached Tonga and Samoa about 2,800–3,000 years ago. For roughly a thousand years they stayed in this western Polynesian homeland, developing the language, social forms and material culture that became Polynesian. Then, from about 1000 AD, canoes pushed east to the Cook Islands, the Society Islands and the Marquesas, and from there, within a few centuries, to Hawai'i, Rapa Nui and New Zealand.

The voyages used double-hulled canoes of up to 20 m, sailing against the prevailing easterly trade winds so that crews could return if they found nothing. Navigators read the stars, the angle of swells, the flight lines of birds and the colour of clouds over lagoons. Oral genealogies record the names of canoes and captains, and many Polynesians today trace descent from specific voyages.

The languages show the story. Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, Cook Islands Māori, Niuean, Tuvaluan and New Zealand Māori are all closely related: 'house' is fale in Samoa and Tonga, fare in Tahiti, whare in New Zealand; 'islet' is motu almost everywhere; 'taboo' comes from tapu. With a few words you can follow place names across thousands of kilometres.

The voyaging revival that began with Hōkūle'a in 1976 now links the region again. Cook Islands, Samoa, Tahiti and Aotearoa have their own voyaging societies and canoes, and festivals such as the Festival of Pacific Arts bring them together.

Polynesian societies were, and in many places still are, organised around chiefly titles and extended families. In Samoa, fa'a Samoa — the Samoan way — is built on the 'aiga (extended family) and matai, family chiefs chosen by the family who hold its land and represent it in the village council (fono). Most land is customary and cannot be sold. Tonga is a constitutional monarchy with a king and a hereditary nobility who hold much of the land.

Christianity arrived with the London Missionary Society in Tahiti in 1797 and spread across the region within decades, often through local converts. It merged with chiefly structures rather than replacing them, and the church is now at the centre of village life. Sunday services with powerful hymn singing are the best introduction to an island — visitors are welcome, dressed modestly.

Sunday is taken seriously. In Tonga the constitution of 1875 makes the Sabbath sacred: businesses close, flights do not operate, and contracts signed on a Sunday are void. Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue and Tuvalu keep Sunday for church and family lunch, with the umu (earth oven) lit before dawn. Samoan villages also keep an evening prayer curfew, sa, when a bell or conch sounds and everyone stops for ten to twenty minutes.

Respect shows in small things: sit before speaking to seated elders, do not stand while others sit, take off hats and sunglasses in villages, cover shoulders and knees, and ask before swimming on a village beach, especially on Sunday. In Samoa many beaches charge a small customary fee, paid to the family that owns them.

The colonial powers split related peoples. Samoa was divided in 1899: the western islands went to Germany (then New Zealand from 1914) and became independent in 1962 as the first Pacific island nation; the eastern islands became American Samoa. Tonga was never formally colonised — it was a British protected state from 1900 to 1970 and kept its monarchy.

France annexed Tahiti in 1842–1880 and built French Polynesia from five archipelagos: the Society Islands, Tuamotu, Marquesas, Austral and Gambier islands. From 1966 to 1996 France carried out 193 nuclear tests at Moruroa and Fangataufa in the Tuamotu; compensation claims and health studies continue. Wallis and Futuna chose to become a French territory in 1959 and keeps three customary kings alongside the French prefect.

New Zealand ran the Cook Islands and Niue until they became self-governing in free association in 1965 and 1974. Their people are New Zealand citizens, and many more Cook Islanders and Niueans live in New Zealand than at home — Niue has about 1,700 residents and more than 30,000 people of Niuean descent in NZ. Tuvalu, the former Ellice Islands, separated from the Gilberts (Kiribati) in 1975 and became independent in 1978.

The result for travellers is a patchwork of currencies (tala, pa'anga, New Zealand and Australian dollars, the CFP franc), driving sides (left in Samoa, Tonga, Cooks and Niue; right in the French territories and American Samoa) and entry rules, even between islands that speak nearly the same language.

The earth oven — umu in Samoa and Tonga and the Cooks, ahima'a in Tahiti — is the heart of Polynesian feasting. Stones are heated over a fire, taro, breadfruit, fish, pork and palusami (taro leaves with coconut cream, wrapped in leaves) are laid on top and covered, and everything steams for a couple of hours. Sunday lunch after church, to'ona'i in Samoa, is the classic umu meal.

Raw fish in lime and coconut milk is the everyday luxury: oka in Samoa, 'ota 'ika in Tonga, ika mata in the Cooks, poisson cru in Tahiti. Tinned corned beef (pisupo in Samoa) and mutton flaps are also everyday food, a legacy of trade and aid, and part of the region's health problems with diabetes and obesity.

Kava ('ava in Samoa, kava in Tonga) is ceremonial. A formal 'ava ceremony marks the conferral of titles, the welcome of important guests and the settlement of disputes, with a set order of serving and speeches. In Tonga, informal kava clubs gather men in the evening to drink and sing. Visitors may be offered a cup: accept, and follow the host's lead.

Tattoo (tatau in Samoan, from which the English word comes) is one of Polynesia's great art forms. The Samoan pe'a, a man's tattoo from waist to knees, and the women's malu are still applied by hand with bone combs by master tattooists; Marquesan and Tahitian tattoo revived from the 1980s. Dance is the other: Tahiti's Heiva festival each July, Cook Islands drum dancing, Samoan siva and Tongan lakalaka, a UNESCO-listed sung dance.

Polynesian islands are mostly reached from Auckland, Nadi, Sydney, Brisbane or Los Angeles, and each group has a few flights a week. Air New Zealand links Auckland with Rarotonga, Apia, Nuku'alofa and Niue; Fiji Airways links Nadi with Apia, Tonga and Funafuti; Air Tahiti Nui flies to Papeete from Paris via Los Angeles and from Auckland and Tokyo. Flying between the island groups often means going back through Auckland or Nadi.

Within groups, domestic flights and ferries do the work: Air Tahiti's island passes across French Polynesia, the car ferry from Upolu to Savai'i in Samoa, Lulutai Airlines and ferries in Tonga, Air Rarotonga to Aitutaki. Weather and mechanical delays are normal, and a missed international connection can mean several days' wait.

The seasons are simple: May to October is dry, cooler and less humid, with steady trade winds; November to April is hotter, wetter and cyclone season. Humpback whales arrive from Antarctica to mate and calve between about July and October; Tonga (Vava'u and Ha'apai) is one of the few places where licensed swims with whales are allowed, and Niue and the Cooks have whales close to shore.

Choose islands by what you want rather than trying to see them all. Rarotonga and Samoa are the best value and easiest for families; French Polynesia has the most dramatic scenery and the highest prices; Tonga and Niue are about whales and quiet; Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna are for travellers who want the remotest end of the Pacific and accept basic facilities.