Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia

Sea People explores the unfolding of the Western World's knowledge of Polynesia. It follows the numerous encounters that Europeans have had with Polynesian islands. The book details the evolution in the theories and thoughts of the migrations of the people. It also explores the differences in thinking among the primarily oral Polynesians and the visual (maps and writing) culture of the Europeans. If only the Europeans had taken better notes in their first encounters, we may have a better understanding of the cultures and people.
In the post world war 2 era there have been many theories and "experiments" done. Some postulated they must have floated from south America. A Scandinavian tried sailing on a raft and did manage to make it to an island. Others postulated Polynesians just floated around and happened to stumble into islands. Computer scientists later simulated travel to see where people could have traveled. This refuted some of the "floating randomly" ideas, and showed there must be a degree of intentional behavior. Decades later, there were attempts to revive Polynesian boat making and traditional navigation. They were actually able to navigate throughout the various islands. Modern genetic testing has also helped to present a better picture of where they have come from. However even that is somewhat mudddy. (This may be due to various bottlenecks.)
Currently, the accepted theory is that the Polynesian population came out of Asia, then spent a millenia in Somoa/Tonga before spreading out to the remaining islands. (Rat DNA has been used to help with the analysis.) Moana has helped to further popularize this understanding.