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However, in essence it is an anthropological term, referring to one of the three parts of Oceania (abstraction made of 'continental' Australia), the others being Micronesia and Melanesia, whose autochthonous (pre-colonial) population generally belongs to one ethno-cultural family as a result of centuries of maritime migrations.
Thus Polynesiannavigators were able to sail toward the star they knew to be over their destination temporarily and as it moved westward with time they would then steer towards the succeeding star which would have then moved over the target island.
The Polynesians, with the pelorus and their impressive knowledge, were able follow the shortest route over thousands of miles without any further instrumentation or charts.
The Polynesian languages are a group of related languages spoken in the region known as Polynesia.
Because the Polynesian islands were settled relatively recently (starting around 2,000 years ago), their languages retain strong commonalities.
Although none of the modern Polynesian languages allow consonant clusters, this tendency appears to be have developed well after the early settlement of the islands.
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