Headed into the unknown: The story of Māori migration

A map of Polynesian migration. Image / David Eccles (Gringer (talk)) - Own work

By Stephen Paewai

We were told at school Māori came from Hawaiki. This probably came from early scholars who picked up on Māori oratory which often included the words Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa, Hawaiki pamamao, translated as the great Hawaiki, the long Hawaiki, the distant Hawaiki in reference to the homelands. This was thought to be Hawaii, but it isn’t, although Hawaii is part of the story.

Anthropologists generally agree Māori came from the Marquesas Islands, a group of islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean that are now part of French Polynesia. The Pacific Islands had been settled over many centuries by people who came from the west, probably from Asia. There were several migrations from the Marquesas, to the Hawaiian Islands, the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Easter Island.

The Polynesians were seafaring people and expert navigators. They had probably mapped out the majority of the Pacific Islands. These migrations were probably planned, as large numbers of people with supplies and essentials to set up a new life. There were several likely reasons for the move. The most obvious is overpopulation; the Marquesas has a very dry climate and would therefore be difficult to sustain a large population. Another reason could have been a dispute and one group were forced out or a number of families could have banded together and decided to find a new homeland.

Relying on ancestral knowledge, a large number of double-hulled canoes set sail to the southwest. Guided by sea currents, bird migrations, cloud patterns and the stars, these intrepid explorers headed into the relative unknown. These migrations happened over many centuries, one heading northwest and settling in Hawaii, another going to the southwest and settling in Rarotonga. Another migration went to the southeast and settled Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and at a similar time our early ancestors made their way to Aotearoa. All of this was happening while the sailors in Europe thought the earth was flat and feared going too far as they might fall off the edge of the earth!

The Rangitāne story is we came on the Kurahaupō waka led by Ruatea, the ancestor of the Ngāti Apa people who reside in the Rangitikei area. Other principal leaders on the Kurahaupō waka were Whatonga, the grandfather of Rangitāne and Popoto the ancestor of Rongomaiwahine who married Kahungunu and whose descendants live today in the Mahia area. This was where the Kurahaupō waka made landfall at Nukutaurua.

Over time the descendants of Whatonga gradually made their way south through Hawkes Bay. The descendants of his oldest son Tara settled in the Horowhenua and Wellington areas. While the descendants of his grandson, our ancestor Rangitāne, spread through Tamaki nui-ā-Rua, to the Wairarapa and the Manawatū. Another branch sailed across Raukawa Moana, Cook Strait, and settled in Wairau (Marlborough). These are the four branches of our iwi as we know it today.