The Maori are descendants of Polynesian peoples. Estimates differ but it is generally thought that the first Polynesian canoes with Maori settlers landed on the New Zealand shores around 1000 AD. According to various sources these highly skilled seafarers came from the homeland called Hawaiki. Nowadays better known as the eastern region of Polynesia such as Tahiti and the Cook Islands.
Migrating birds flying the same direction each year would have been an indication for the Polynesians that other, unexplored, lands existed. This sparkled the idea of exploring new worlds and …