Ocean voyages and coastal landings
Around 1250–1300 CE, settlers from East Polynesia reached Aotearoa, now New Zealand. Ocean-going canoes carried people, tools and supplies to unfamiliar shores. Communities formed near estuaries and bays, where fishing, shellfish and further travel supported life. Rivers opened routes inland. Settlers encountered colder seasons and unfamiliar forests and birds, learning local resources and organizing houses and food-gathering journeys within landscapes different from those of their earlier island homes.
Hunting and gardens adapted to the seasons
Early residents hunted moa, seals and other animals and made hooks, stone implements and bone tools. Coastal supplies complemented inland activity. Transported crops faced colder conditions; kūmara grew in suitable locations, with gardens and storage helping communities through winter. Digging, weeding, harvesting and preservation required repeated work. Soil, sunlight and frost shaped where cultivation could succeed. Households combined hunting, fishing, gathering and planting into food systems adapted to their particular regions.
Kinship and life in a new landscape
Settlement expanded through canoe and overland travel. Stone, objects and information moved through exchange, while kinship helped organize work and relationships with land. Local fibers supplied cordage and woven goods, and timber served houses and vessels. Oral traditions preserved memories of ancestors, canoes and place names as communities developed their own histories. Hunting, fire and cultivation changed surroundings, connecting social life with the resources and labor that sustained residence across the islands.