Avaiki

Variants include, in order of migration, Havaii, the old name for Raiatea in French Polynesia; the far better known Hawaii in the United States, Avaiki in the Cook Islands and Niue and Hawaiki in New Zealand.

In the Cook Islands, for example, on the capital island of Rarotonga, northern facing volcanic rocks, tumbling onto the shore millennia ago and still set in place, are well known as the ancient departure point for souls bound for Avaiki - the afterworld or heaven.

For instance it would be somewhere in the Manu'a islands group (American Samoa) for the Ngati Karika (Te au o Tonga tribe - Rarotonga).

[2]: 392  Nevertheless, the New Zealand anthropologist Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hīroa), gives a less mystical interpretation of this Mangaian Avaiki: "when Tangi'ia came to Rarotonga from Tahiti, he brought with him some rankless "manahune" [commoners] ... As they had no chance of rising in social status, some of them under the leadership of Rangi migrated to Mangaia to start a new life (c.1450–1475).

A further example of this nomenclature can also be evidenced with the identification of the name of the Province, Renbel which combines Rennell and Bellona.

A present-day Avaiki, this one located in Niue