The real Moana story: Why the Polynesians suddenly sailed east

The real Moana story: Why the Polynesians suddenly sailed east

The real story behind Moana: Why Polynesians suddenly sailed east

For roughly 1,700 years, Polynesian seafarers stopped at Samoa and Tonga. Then, in what became one of history’s most remarkable bursts of migration, they pushed east across the Pacific and settled island groups that had long remained beyond their reach. New research suggests that this dramatic shift may have been driven in part by a simple and brutal pressure on daily life, water was becoming scarce at home. A team led by researchers from the Un…