File:Maori_dance.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Polynesians
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Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Southeast Asia and are part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, with an Urheimat in Taiwan. They speak the Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic subfamily within the Austronesian language family. The Indigenous Māori people form the largest Polynesian population, followed by Samoans, Native Hawaiians, Tahitians, Tongans, and Cook Islands
Key facts
- Ethnic group.group
- Polynesians
- Ethnic group.image
- Maori dance.jpg
- Ethnic group.image_caption
- Māori people in the North Island, New Zealand
- Ethnic group.population
- 2,000,000
- Ethnic group.pop1
- 1,157,478
- Ethnic group.pop2
- 988,519
- Ethnic group.pop3
- 409,805
- Ethnic group.pop4
- 215,000
- Ethnic group.pop5
- 192,342
- Ethnic group.pop6
- 103,036
- Ethnic group.pop7
- 17,683
- Ethnic group.pop8
- 10,760
- Ethnic group.pop9
- 10,645
- Ethnic group.pop10
- 9,399
- Ethnic group.languages
- Polynesian languages (Hawaiian, Māori, Rapa Nui, Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, Tuvaluan and others), English, French and Spanish
- Ethnic group.religions
- Christianity (96.1%) and Polynesian mythology
- Ethnic group.related
- other Austronesian peoples, Euronesians
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Photograph (black and white); cabinet card; portrait of a man with a moustache, an earring, a necklace with two small pendants, and a second necklace with the fruits of the pandanus tree; Oceania. Albumen print. Oc,B43.8, British Museum.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- People of Polynesia
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Origins
- Genetic studies
- People
- See also
- References
- External links
Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Southeast Asia and are part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, with an Urheimat in Taiwan. They speak the Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic subfamily within the Austronesian language family. The Indigenous Māori people form the largest Polynesian population, followed by Samoans, Native Hawaiians, Tahitians, Tongans, and Cook Islands Māori.
, there were an estimated 2 million ethnic Polynesians (both full and part) worldwide. The vast majority either inhabit independent Polynesian nation-states (Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu) or form minorities in countries such as Australia, Chile (Easter Island), New Zealand, France (French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna), and the United States (Hawaii and American Samoa), as well as in the British Overseas Territory of the Pitcairn Islands. New Zealand had the highest population of Polynesians, estimated at 110,000 in the 18th century.