Polynesia

Made by Ahmed 9-a 

What is
Polynesia?

• Polynesia is a subregion of
Oceania, made up of more than
1,000 islands scattered over the
central and southern Pacific
Ocean. The indigenous people
who inhabit the islands
of Polynesia are called
Polynesians. They have many
things in common, including
language relatedness, cultural
practices, 
 • Polynesian culture, the beliefs and practices
of the indigenous peoples of the
ethnogeography group of Pacific islands
What is the  known as Polynesia from Greek poly ‘many’
and nēsoi ‘islands’. Polynesia encompasses a
culture in huge triangular area of the east-central 
Pacific Ocean. The triangle has its apex at
Polynesia? the Hawaiian Islands in the north and its
base angles at New Zealand (Aotearoa) in
the west and Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in the
east 
 Religions in Polynesia:
• Polynesian belief systems emphasized 
animism, a perspective in which all
things, animate and inanimate, were
believed to be endowed to a greater or
lesser degree with sacred supernatural
power. That power, known among
Polynesians as mana, could be nullified
by various human actions, and many of
the region’s tapu (“prohibitions” or “
taboos”) were intended to prevent such
behaviours. 
 Factors in Polynesia:
• The early issues of the Journal contain a rich repository
of indigenous texts and traditions contributed by Pacific
peoples, as well as by missionaries and other sojourners,
often published in local languages with English
translations. Among the scholars who have long
contributed articles to the Journal are social/cultural
anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, linguists and
physical/biological anthropologists working in
Micronesia and Melanesia, as well as Polynesia. More
recently they have been joined by sociologists, political
scientists, economists and other scholars. 
How did the
environment affect
Polynesian culture?
• Polynesian culture. As a result, early
peoples had to take in a wide variety
of subsistence items, including most
of the useful plants and all the
domestic animals they required. The
physical environment has continued
to exert a marked influence on
Polynesian culture.