Polynesian Seafaring Expansion of the 1050s

Name: Polynesian Seafaring Expansion of the 1050s
Start: 1051
End: 1060

Type Event Region Oceania Time 1051–1060

In the first half of the 11th century, Polynesian navigators continued spreading across the eastern Pacific, with population growth in the Society, M…

Timeline

1051–1055Tahiti (Society Islands) · Society IslandsIn the 1050s, agricultural settlements in the Society and Marquesas Islands expanded, with taro, breadfruit, and banana cultivation supporting population growth; resource pressures prompted some communities to organize long voyages in search of new islands.
1053–1057Central Pacific sea routes · Pacific OceanPolynesian navigators used outrigger canoes, stars, ocean currents, and bird migration patterns for transoceanic navigation; by the 1050s the technology was sufficient to support voyages of thousands of kilometers, providing the capability foundation for subsequent settlement of Hawaii.
1056–1060Cook Islands · Cook IslandsArchaeology and linguistics indicate that around the 1050s the Polynesian expansion front had reached the Cook Islands and waters further east, foreshadowing the final colonization of Hawaii and Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in the 11th–13th centuries.

Sources

On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact — Patrick Vinton Kirch (2017)
The Lapita Peoples: Ancestors of the Oceanic World — Patrick Vinton Kirch (1997)