The Surprising Origins of Native Hawaiians
Hawaii is one of the most isolated islands on Earth, surrounded by vast oceans for thousands of miles on every side. And yet humans have been living there for nearly a millennia. They’re part of the Polynesian diaspora. This culture of ultravoyagers embarked on their own age of exploration while Europe was still mired in the Middle Ages, colonizing the tiny islands dotting the South Pacific…
Hawaii, located in the most remote island chain on Earth, has been inhabited by humans for nearly a millennium. These settlers belong to the Polynesian diaspora, an age of exploration that predated Europe’s medieval period. They colonized these islands without the tools, technology, or written language that define modern colonization.
A recent study published in Science Advances provides a more precise understanding of the genetic history of Hawaii's Native people. Dr. Alexander Ioannidis, an author of the study from Stanford University, stated, "What we uncover in this paper is where the Native people of Hawaii had come from. Hawaii is the only Polynesian island in the Northern Hemisphere, so it’s a long way from everything."
This discovery offers new insight into the origins of Hawaii's unique culture and people, despite its isolation thousands of miles away from any other landmass.
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