Circle the area on this map
C. Natives of the Polynesian Triangle speak Polynesian languages and share related DNA. Polynesians used their canoes and ancient navigation skills of reading stars, currents, clouds and bird movements to reach the most remote corners of the Pacific. Tahiti lies roughly in the middle of the Polynesian Triangle.
A. Easter Island was annexed by Chile in 1888 and the islanders gained Chilean citizenship in 1966. Polynesians are believed to have arrived on Easter Island about 1200. Disease, slave-trading and emigration to other islands reduced the island’s native population from around 3,000 people when Europeans first arrived in 1722 to a low of 111 in 1877.
D. The Moai statues were created by the early Rapa Nui people. The Maori are the Polynesian natives of New Zealand. Mauii is a Hawaiian island settled by Polynesians who also settled Manu'a, a group of Samoan islands.
B. Tahiti is the most populous of the 67 inhabited islands in French Polynesia, a semi-autonomous region of the French Republic. Many of the Rap Nui people who fled the South American slavers raiding Easter Island ended up migrating to Tahiti.