Polynesia is the most far-flung, easterly region of Oceania. Ethnically and linguistically, it's far flung peoples migrated further distances in shorter times from their ancestral home in Taiwan than any other ethnic migration before the world-wide colonisations of the British 500 years later.
Cook Islands An archipelago of fifteen islands spread out over 2.2 million square kilometers of the Pacific
Kiribati The eastern two thirds of this sprawling island nation fall within the scope of Polynesia. Remote and poor, the sun rises first here every day.
French Polynesia Includes three islands with a strong claim to being the most beautiful island in the world, Bora Bora, Tahiti and Moorea; also Mururoa where the French carried out nuclear tests until 1996.
New Zealand is the largest Polynesian nation, both in numbers of residents of Polynesian ethnicity and land area. Indeed, there are more Cook Islanders and Tongans living in Auckland, New Zealand than in their home islands. Auckland airport is also the primary air hub for all of Polynesia. However, owing to its size, it is included as its own separate region of Oceania for the organisational purposes of this travel guide.
