Polynesians

They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Southeast Asia and are part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, with an Urheimat in Taiwan.

[11] The people of Polynesia accomplished this voyaging using ancient navigation skills, including reading stars, currents, clouds, and bird movements—skills that have been passed down through successive generations to the present day.

Using relatively advanced maritime innovations such as the catamaran, outrigger boats, and crab claw sails, they rapidly colonized the islands of both the Indian and Pacific oceans.

This remained the furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion in the Pacific for approximately 1,500 years, during which the Lapita culture in these islands abruptly lost the technology of pottery-making for unknown reasons.

The high frequencies of mtDNA B4 in Polynesians are the result of genetic drift and represent the descendants of a few Austronesian females who mixed with Papuan males.

[28][29] Soares et al. (2008) argued for an older pre-Holocene Sundaland origin in Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) based on mitochondrial DNA.

[31] A 2014 study by Lipson et al., using whole genome data, supports the findings of Kayser et al. Modern Polynesians were shown to have lower levels of admixture with Australo-Melanesians than Austronesians in Island Melanesia.

The intermarriage and admixture with Australo-Melanesian Papuans evident in the genetics of modern Polynesians (as well as Islander Melanesians) occurred after the settlement of Tonga and Vanuatu.