Lapita People Expand Across the Western Pacific
c. 1500–800 BCE · Ancient World
Between approximately 1500 and 800 BCE, the Lapita people—Austronesian seafarers from the northern Philippines and Taiwan—migrated across the western Pacific Ocean. They appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago around 1500 BCE and spread 4,500 kilometers to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa within several centuries. Archaeologists identify them by distinctive dentate-stamped pottery. They navigated in double-hulled outrigger canoes using stars, ocean swells, and bird behavior. The Lapita became ancestors of Polynesian peoples, with their settlement of Tonga and Samoa establishing the ancestral Polynesian homeland.
Locations
Bismarck ArchipelagoTongaSamoa
Topics
archaeologynavigationmigrationseafaringaustronesianPolynesia
Connected Events — 5 Connections
Parallel westward branch of same Austronesian expansion Austronesian Settlers Arrive in Madagascar
Hawaiian settlers descended from Polynesian voyagers who themselves descended from Lapita seafarers, completing a 2,000-year migration chain from Melanesia across the entire Pacific Polynesian Navigators Settle the Hawaiian Islands
Rapa Nui settlers were the easternmost branch of Polynesian expansion, tracing their ancestry through 2,000 years of seafaring back to the Lapita culture of western Melanesia Polynesian Navigators Settle Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Ultimate achievement of navigational tradition beginning with Polynesians Make Contact with South America
Culmination of navigational tradition beginning with Polynesian Ancestors of the Māori Settle Aotearoa New Zealand
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