Hawaiki
Encyclopedia
In Māori
mythology, Hawaiki is the homeland of the Māori, the original home of the Māori, before they travelled across the sea to New Zealand
. It also features as the underworld
in many Māori stories.
The Māori word Hawaiki figures in legends about the arrival of the Māori in Aotearoa
(New Zealand
). The same concept appears in other Polynesian cultures, the name appearing variously as Havaiki, Havai'i, or Avaiki in other Polynesian languages
, though Hawaiki or the misspelling "Hawaiiki" appear to have become the most common variants used in English
. Even though the Sāmoa
ns have preserved no traditions of having originated elsewhere, the name of the largest Sāmoan island Savaii
preserves a cognate
with the word Hawaiki, as does the name of the Polynesian islands of Hawaii
(the okina
denoting a glottal stop
that replaces the "k" in some Polynesian languages).
In several island groups including New Zealand and the Marquesas the term has been recorded as associated with the underworld and death. William Wyatt Gill
discusses at length the legends about 'Avaiki as the underworld or Hades of Mangaia
in the Cook Islands
. Gill (1876:155) records a proverb: Ua po Avaiki, ua ao nunga nei - 'Tis night now in spirit-land, for 'tis light in this upper world." Tregear (1891:392) also records the term Avaiki as meaning "underworld" at Mangaia, probably sourced from Gill. There is of course no real contradiction in Hawaiki being the ancestral homeland (that is, the dwelling place of the ancestors) and the underworld, which is also the dwelling place of the ancestors and the spirits.
Other possible cognates of the word Hawaiki include sauali'i ("spirits" in Sāmoan
) and hou'eiki ("chiefs" in Tongan
). This has led some scholars to hypothesize that the word Hawaiki, and, by extension, Savai'i
and Hawaii, may not, in fact, have originally referred to a geographical place, but rather to chiefly
ancestors and the chief-based social structure that pre-colonial Polynesia typically exhibited (Taumoefolau 1996).
In Easter Island
, the name of the mythical home country appears as Hiva. According to Thor Heyerdahl
Hiva allegedly lay east of the island. Sebastian Englert
records:
Englert puts forward that Hiva lies to the West of the island. The name "Hiva" is found in the Marquesas Islands
, in the names of several islands: Nuku Hiva
, Hiva Oa
and Fatu Hiva
(although in Fatu Hiva the "hiva" element may be a different word, ''ʻiva). It is also notable that in the Hawaiian Islands
, the ancestral homeland is called Kahiki (a cognate of Tahiti
, where at least part of the Hawaiian population came from).
s, Polynesians migrated from Hawaiki to the islands of the Pacific Ocean
in open canoes, little different from the traditional craft found in Polynesia today.
The Māori people of New Zealand
trace their ancestry to groups of people who reportedly travelled from Hawaiki in about 40 named canoe
s (waka) (compare the discredited Great Fleet
theory of the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand).
Polynesian oral traditions say that the spirits of Polynesian people return to Hawaiki after death. In the New Zealand context, such return-journeys take place via Spirits Bay
, Cape Reinga
and the Three Kings Islands
at the extreme north of the North Island
of New Zealand — giving a possible pointer as to the direction in which Hawaiki may lie.
s had doubts that the canoe-legends described a deliberate migration, preferring to believe that the migration occurred accidentally when seafarers became lost and drifted to uninhabited shores. In 1947 Thor Heyerdahl
sailed the Kon-Tiki
, a balsa
-wood raft
, from South America
into the Pacific in an attempt to show that humans could have settled Polynesia from the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean, with sailors using the prevailing winds and simple construction techniques.
However, DNA, linguistic, botanical, and archaeological evidence indicates that the Austronesian-speaking peoples (including the Polynesians) probably originated from islands in eastern Asia, possibly from Taiwan
, and moved southwards and eastwards through the South Pacific Ocean
. The common ancestry of all the Austronesian languages
of which the Polynesian languages
form a major subgroup, supports this theory. The sweet potato
, which is of South American origin, is widely cultivated in Polynesia, indicating that some interaction between the Polynesians and the Amerindians
of South America must have taken place. However, no Polynesian crops were introduced into the Americas, and there is no evidence of Polynesian settlement. This evidence indicates that at least some of the migration occurred against the prevailing winds, and hence deliberately rather than just accidentally. Austronesian and Polynesian navigators may have deduced the existence of uninhabited islands by observing migratory patterns of birds.
In recent decades, boatbuilders (see Polynesian Voyaging Society
) have constructed ocean-going craft using traditional materials and techniques, and have sailed them over presumed traditional routes using ancient navigation methods, showing the feasibility of such deliberate migration.
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
mythology, Hawaiki is the homeland of the Māori, the original home of the Māori, before they travelled across the sea to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It also features as the underworld
Underworld
The Underworld is a region which is thought to be under the surface of the earth in some religions and in mythologies. It could be a place where the souls of the recently departed go, and in some traditions it is identified with Hell or the realm of death...
in many Māori stories.
Etymology
Linguists have reconstructed the term to Proto-Nuclear Polynesian *sawaiki.The Māori word Hawaiki figures in legends about the arrival of the Māori in Aotearoa
Aotearoa
Aotearoa is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand. It is used by both Māori and non-Māori, and is becoming increasingly widespread in the bilingual names of national organisations, such as the National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.-Translation:The...
(New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
). The same concept appears in other Polynesian cultures, the name appearing variously as Havaiki, Havai'i, or Avaiki in other Polynesian languages
Polynesian languages
The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...
, though Hawaiki or the misspelling "Hawaiiki" appear to have become the most common variants used in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Even though the Sāmoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
ns have preserved no traditions of having originated elsewhere, the name of the largest Sāmoan island Savaii
Savai'i
Savaii is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose...
preserves a cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
with the word Hawaiki, as does the name of the Polynesian islands of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
(the okina
Okina
The okina, also called by several other names , is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonetic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.- Geographic names in the United States :...
denoting a glottal stop
Glottal stop
The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
that replaces the "k" in some Polynesian languages).
In several island groups including New Zealand and the Marquesas the term has been recorded as associated with the underworld and death. William Wyatt Gill
William Wyatt Gill
William Wyatt Gill was an English missionary, active in Australia and the South Pacific region after 1831.He was the author of several works, his first, Life in the Southern Isles; or, Scenes and Incidents in the South Pacific and New Guinea was followed by Myths and Songs from the South Pacific...
discusses at length the legends about 'Avaiki as the underworld or Hades of Mangaia
Mangaia
Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga.-Geography:...
in the Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
. Gill (1876:155) records a proverb: Ua po Avaiki, ua ao nunga nei - 'Tis night now in spirit-land, for 'tis light in this upper world." Tregear (1891:392) also records the term Avaiki as meaning "underworld" at Mangaia, probably sourced from Gill. There is of course no real contradiction in Hawaiki being the ancestral homeland (that is, the dwelling place of the ancestors) and the underworld, which is also the dwelling place of the ancestors and the spirits.
Other possible cognates of the word Hawaiki include sauali'i ("spirits" in Sāmoan
Samoan language
Samoan Samoan Samoan (Gagana Sāmoa, is the language of the Samoan Islands, comprising the independent country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language—alongside English—in both jurisdictions. Samoan, a Polynesian language, is the first language for most...
) and hou'eiki ("chiefs" in Tongan
Tongan language
Tongan is an Austronesian language spoken in Tonga. It has around 200,000 speakers and is a national language of Tonga. It is a VSO language.-Related languages:...
). This has led some scholars to hypothesize that the word Hawaiki, and, by extension, Savai'i
Savai'i
Savaii is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose...
and Hawaii, may not, in fact, have originally referred to a geographical place, but rather to chiefly
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
ancestors and the chief-based social structure that pre-colonial Polynesia typically exhibited (Taumoefolau 1996).
In Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
, the name of the mythical home country appears as Hiva. According to Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
Hiva allegedly lay east of the island. Sebastian Englert
Sebastian Englert
Father Sebastian Englert OFM Cap., was a Capuchin Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest, missionary, linguist and ethnologist from Germany....
records:
He-kî Hau Maka: "He kaiga iroto i te raá, iruga! Ka-oho korua, ka-û'i i te kaiga mo noho o te Ariki O'Hotu Matu'a! [Translation:] "The island towards the sun, above! Go, see the island where King Hotu Matu'a will go and live!"
Englert puts forward that Hiva lies to the West of the island. The name "Hiva" is found in the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
, in the names of several islands: Nuku Hiva
Nuku Hiva
Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as Île Marchand and Madison Island....
, Hiva Oa
Hiva Oa
Hiva Oa is the second largest island in the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It is the largest island of the Southern Marquesas group. According to local religion, the gods created the islands as their home. Therefore all islands have...
and Fatu Hiva
Fatu Hiva
Fatu Hiva is the southernmost of the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean...
(although in Fatu Hiva the "hiva" element may be a different word, ''ʻiva). It is also notable that in the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, the ancestral homeland is called Kahiki (a cognate of Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, where at least part of the Hawaiian population came from).
Legends
According to various oral traditionLegend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
s, Polynesians migrated from Hawaiki to the islands of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
in open canoes, little different from the traditional craft found in Polynesia today.
The Māori people of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
trace their ancestry to groups of people who reportedly travelled from Hawaiki in about 40 named canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s (waka) (compare the discredited Great Fleet
Maori migration canoes
Various Māori traditions recount how their ancestors set out from their homeland in great ocean-going canoes . Some of these traditions name a mythical homeland called Hawaiki....
theory of the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand).
Polynesian oral traditions say that the spirits of Polynesian people return to Hawaiki after death. In the New Zealand context, such return-journeys take place via Spirits Bay
Spirits Bay
Spirits Bay is located at the northern end of the Aupouri Peninsula at the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island. At the western end of the bay is Cape Reinga, from which, according to Māori legend the spirits of the dead leave for their journey to the afterlife .The bay is 12 kilometres in...
, Cape Reinga
Cape Reinga
Cape Reinga is the northwesternmost tip of the Aupouri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. Cape Reinga is located over 100 km north of the nearest small town of Kaitaia. State Highway 1 extends all the way to the Cape, but until 2010 was unsealed gravel road for the...
and the Three Kings Islands
Three Kings Islands
The Three Kings Islands or Manawa Islands are a group of 13 islands about northwest of Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of the North Island of New Zealand, where the South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea converge. They measure about 4.86 km² in area...
at the extreme north of the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of New Zealand — giving a possible pointer as to the direction in which Hawaiki may lie.
Modern science and practical testing of theories
Until , many anthropologistAnthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
s had doubts that the canoe-legends described a deliberate migration, preferring to believe that the migration occurred accidentally when seafarers became lost and drifted to uninhabited shores. In 1947 Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
sailed the Kon-Tiki
Kon-Tiki
Kon-Tiki was the raft used by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. It was named after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name...
, a balsa
Balsa
Ochroma pyramidale, commonly known as the balsa tree , is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is a large, fast-growing tree that can grow up to tall. It is the source of balsa wood, a very lightweight material with many uses...
-wood raft
Raft
A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is the most basic of boat design, characterized by the absence of a hull...
, from South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
into the Pacific in an attempt to show that humans could have settled Polynesia from the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean, with sailors using the prevailing winds and simple construction techniques.
However, DNA, linguistic, botanical, and archaeological evidence indicates that the Austronesian-speaking peoples (including the Polynesians) probably originated from islands in eastern Asia, possibly from Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and moved southwards and eastwards through the South Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. The common ancestry of all the Austronesian languages
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
of which the Polynesian languages
Polynesian languages
The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...
form a major subgroup, supports this theory. The sweet potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
, which is of South American origin, is widely cultivated in Polynesia, indicating that some interaction between the Polynesians and the Amerindians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
of South America must have taken place. However, no Polynesian crops were introduced into the Americas, and there is no evidence of Polynesian settlement. This evidence indicates that at least some of the migration occurred against the prevailing winds, and hence deliberately rather than just accidentally. Austronesian and Polynesian navigators may have deduced the existence of uninhabited islands by observing migratory patterns of birds.
In recent decades, boatbuilders (see Polynesian Voyaging Society
Polynesian Voyaging Society
The Polynesian Voyaging Society is a non-profit research and educational corporation based in Honolulu, Hawaii. PVS was established to research and perpetuate traditional Polynesian voyaging methods...
) have constructed ocean-going craft using traditional materials and techniques, and have sailed them over presumed traditional routes using ancient navigation methods, showing the feasibility of such deliberate migration.
See also
- Hawai‘iloaHawaiiloaHawaiiloa is the hero of an ancient Hawaiian legend about the settling of the Hawaiian Islands. After having accidentally stumbled upon the islands, he returned to his homeland which he called Ka āina kai melemele a Kane, "the land of the yellow sea of Kane". He then organized a colonizing...
- Hōkūle‘aHokuleaHōkūlea is a performance-accurate full-scale replica of a waa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. Launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, she is best known for her 1976 Hawaii to Tahiti voyage performed with Polynesian navigation techniques, without modern...
- KupeKupeIn the Māori mythology of some tribes, Kupe was involved in the Polynesian discovery of New Zealand.-Contention:There is contention concerning the status of Kupe. The contention turns on the authenticity of later versions of the legends, the so-called 'orthodox' versions closely associated with S....
- Stephenson Percy SmithStephenson Percy SmithStephenson Percy Smith was a New Zealand ethnologist and surveyor. He founded The Polynesian Society.-Early life and career as a surveyor :...
External links
- Hawaiki in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand