1. The ancient route from Asia by way of Indonesia and Melanesia of ancestors of Polynesians. some may have turned northward into Micronesia (small islands). Melanesia (black islands) was settled many thousands of years earlier by dark-skinned peoples.
2. Micronesia received voyagers form Asia by way of the Philippines.
3. Discovered more than 3,000 years ago, Sãmoa, Tonga and eastern islands of Fiji became the "Cradle of Polynesia," where distinctive Polynesian physical and cultural traits evolved within an originally small group.
4. Polynesians reached the Marquesas, and possibly the Tahitian Islands.
5. Archaeological findings suggest that "Eastern," or "Marginal" Polynesia was explored from the Marquesas and possibly Tahiti, by canoes sailing north to Hawai'i (about 2,000 years ago), east to Easter Island, and southwest to the Cook Islands and New Zealand.