New Zealand History/Polynesian Settlement: Difference between revisions

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m →‎Polynesian Settlement of New Zealand: Removed a segment, as it contains a truly hypothesis widely unknown/unsupported by New Zealand historians.
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Around 950 AD, it is believed Polynesian settlers used subtropical weather systems, star constellations, water currents, and animal migration to find their way from their native islands, in central Polynesia to New Zealand. As the settlers colonized the country, they developed their distinctive Maori culture.
 
While no official connection has been made, their is a possibility that the Polynesian Colonisation of New Zealand coinsides with the Expansion of the Tu'i Tongan Empire. This Polynesian proto-empire influence spanned from New Guinea to the Cook Islands. It's seat of power was in Tonga and begun major expansion during the 12th to 13th Century. This time of Polynesian expansion headed by the Tongan polity, could be one of the factors of how New Zealand was discovered. This of course is merely a hypothosis, and as the Polynesian lacked written record, (with the curious exeption of Easter Island) forces us to speculate.
[[Image:Polynesian canoe replica 2.jpg|thumb|right|width=400px|A replica Polynesian canoe Hawai'iloa in Honolulu harbour]]
According to Maori, the first Polynesian explorer to reach New Zealand was Kupe, who traveled across the Pacific in a Polynesian-style voyaging canoe. It is thought Kupe reached New Zealand at Hokianga Harbour, in Northland, about 1070 years ago.