Polynesian's Last Migration

There has been debate that the Polynesians came from either South America or Asia. Both linguists and archaeologists have found evidence that confirms that they originated from Asia. Scientists researching mtDNA have also backed up these findings. As the ancestors of the Polynesians journeyed across the Pacific their culture changed during isolation. The Polynesians last migration was to New Zealand. New Zealand’s climate and landscape was very different from the tropical Polynesia Islands, this also led to a cultural change.
Many people believed that Polynesians came from South America. One man called Thor Heyerdahl believed very strongly that all Polynesians originated from South America. Thor studied and collected lots of information over
This theory has lots of evidence that can support it, for example, most foods originated from Asia yet the food has ended up all through the Polynesian Islands. Some foods including bananas, taros, and yams as well as some animals like dogs, rats, and pigs. This shows that the Polynesians could have sailed from South East Asia to the Polynesian Islands. Another piece of evidence is that all Polynesian languages belong to the Austronesian family of languages, which is also spoken in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, Fiji and Samoa eye is mata and in Maori it is Whatu. Now that the world is becoming more advanced, scientist can now trace back where you originally came from. DNA has proven that Polynesians did originate from Asia which is why the South America theory is no longer supported. While Polynesians gradually migrated from South East Asia they left their trail by leaving artefacts called Lapita
Moa’s and other species became extinct as the Archaic Maori over hunted them. Food got harder to find so Maori’s had to find another way to provide food to carry on their existence. So, deforestation and cultivation began as Maori’s needed land to harvest and grow crops. To get rid of some of the forests, Maori’s continued chopping down the trees. This became too big of a job so they started lighting fire which caused a lot more harm to the forests. The fires would have become too big to control resulting in more forest burning then they needed. The temperature started to drop in the South Island as well, this caused competition between the Maori tribes as they wanted the best land. This meant that as the North Island got more popular, resources were becoming limited, so wars began. All of this changed New Zealand’s environment and had an impact on New Zealand. This all started because some Polynesians wanted a new home and a new