POP Cultures: Polynesia

Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, is a small volcanic island that encompasses about 67 sq mi of land mass, and at its highest point rises to about 1,700 feet. According to research and oral traditions, it was once covered with trees, which were all cut down, possibly to aid in the construction and transportation of the almost 900 moai or stone monuments for which Easter Island is most famous.

The Cook Islands were first settled in the 6th century by Polynesian people who migrated from Tahiti in the northeast. This group of islands are in the South Pacific, northeast of New Zealand, between French Polynesia and American Samoa. There are 15 major islands spread over 2,200,000 sq km (849,425 sq mi) of ocean, divided into two distinct groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands made up of coral atolls.

American Samoa, located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of Samoa, consists of five main islands and two coral atolls. The largest and most populous island is Tutuila, with the Manuʻa Islands, Rose Atoll, and Swains Island also included in the territory. American Samoa is part of the Samoan Islands chain, located west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 300 miles south of Tokelau. To the west is the Wallis and Futuna group. The total land area of American Samoa is 199 sq km (76.8 sq mi).

Tonga is an island nation located south of Samoa and about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand. It is the South Pacific’s last Polynesian kingdom, with a constitutional, hereditary monarchy and a popularly elected parliament. Tonga has the unique distinction of being the only Pacific nation that never completely lost its indigenous governance.