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50 free Polynesia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Polynesia trivia quiz covers the whole Polynesian Triangle, from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. It begins with the geography and geology: the sunken continent of Zealandia, the hotspot volcanoes, the 1,000-plus islands. Then it follows the people, from Taiwan and the Lapita potters through the long pause to the settlement of the far corners, the sweet potato that hints at contact with South America and the Kon-Tiki theory that got it wrong. From there it visits the island nations one by one: the Tuʻi Tonga Empire and the Pacific's only indigenous monarchy, Tuvalu's eight islands and its .tv domain, Samoa's Tui Manuʻa, the Cook Islands, the Treaty of Waitangi, the moai of Rapa Nui, French Polynesia's nuclear tests, solar-powered Tokelau and the voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa. The first questions suit any traveller; the last reward readers who know the Proto-Polynesian word for the homeland. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Polynesia is made up of roughly how many islands?
Over 1,000
They are scattered across the central and southern Pacific, with most of the land area in New Zealand.
Q 02Which three points define the corners of the Polynesian Triangle?
Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island
Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue and French Polynesia all lie inside it.
Q 03Which French writer first used the term 'Polynésie' in 1756?
Charles de Brosses
He applied it to all Pacific islands; Dumont d'Urville narrowed the definition in an 1831 lecture.
Q 04Which country holds over 270,000 of Polynesia's roughly 300,000 square km of land?
New Zealand
The Hawaiian archipelago makes up about half of what remains.
Q 05Norfolk Island and Ouvéa are unsubmerged parts of which largely sunken continent?
Zealandia
It is thought to have mostly sunk about 23 million years ago before part of it was uplifted again.
Q 06What built most Polynesian islands, including Samoa and the Hawaiian chain?
Volcanic hotspots
New Zealand is the exception, sitting on continental crust.
Q 07Linguistic and genetic evidence traces Polynesian origins ultimately to which island?
Taiwan
Austronesian speakers spread from there into Maritime Southeast Asia between about 3000 and 1000 BC.
Q 08The ancestors of the Polynesians are known archaeologically by what pottery culture?
Lapita
Lapita peoples appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago by about 1400 BC.
Q 09Which theory says settlers left their Asian homeland fast, with little mixing en route?
Express Train model
It is supported by most current genetic, linguistic and archaeological data.
Q 10Where is the oldest archaeological site yet discovered in Polynesia?
Mulifanua, Samoa
More than 4,000 Lapita pottery shards there date to about 1000 BC.
Q 11What is the roughly 1,000-year gap in Polynesian settlement known as?
The long pause
Its cause is debated: climate shifts, new voyaging techniques or cultural change.
Q 12When were the far-flung corners of the triangle, such as Rapa Nui, settled?
1200-1300 AD
The central groups like the Cooks and Marquesas were reached first, around 1000-1150 AD.
Q 13What crop native to the Americas was widespread in Polynesia before Europeans arrived?
Sweet potato
Māori call it kūmara and Quechua speakers kumar; it likely reached central Polynesia around 1300.
Q 21Which warrior united Tonga into a Western-style kingdom in 1845?
Tāufaʻāhau
Baptised George in 1831, he declared Tonga a constitutional monarchy in 1875.
Q 22In what year did Tonga become independent from Britain?
1970
It had been a British protected state under a Treaty of Friendship since 1900 but never gave up its sovereignty.
Q 23Tonga is described as the only extant what in the Pacific islands?
Indigenous monarchy
Reverence for the king replaces that once held for the sacred Tuʻi Tonga.
Q 24How many of Tonga's 171 islands are inhabited?
Q 14Which explorer's raft expedition tried to prove Polynesians came from the Americas?
Thor Heyerdahl
None of his proposals has been accepted by the scientific community.
Q 15A 2020 DNA study linked Polynesians to which pre-Columbian South American people?
Zenú
The contact dates to between 1150 and 1380 AD; who visited whom remains unclear.
Q 16What does Tuvalu's name mean in Tuvaluan?
Eight standing together
Eight of its nine islands were inhabited.
Q 17Which internet domain has Tuvalu marketed for income?
.tv
Verisign managed it until 2021; the Cook Islands leaned on postage stamp sales instead.
Q 18Which Spanish navigator first sighted Tuvalu in 1568?
Álvaro de Mendaña
He charted Nui as Isla de Jesús because the previous day was the feast of the Holy Name.
Q 19Tuvalu is the fourth-smallest country in the world; which is NOT smaller than it?
San Marino
Its total land area is just over 25 square kilometres.
Q 20Which 10th-century empire spread Polynesian customs across the western Pacific?
Tuʻi Tonga
Its influence reached parts of the Solomon Islands before declining in the 13th century.
45
About 70% of Tongans live on the main island, Tongatapu.
Q 25Which Samoan title once ruled a maritime confederacy across much of Polynesia?
Tui Manuʻa
Oral history says its 9th-century empire spanned Fiji, Tonga, Tokelau and Tuvalu.
Q 26Samoa's independence from its NZ-administered trusteeship took effect on what date?
1 January 1962
New Zealand had occupied the German-controlled western islands in World War I.
Q 27Which island is the political and economic capital of the Cook Islands?
Rarotonga
The 15 islands were formerly known as the Hervey Islands.
Q 28The Cook Islands were formerly known by what name?
Hervey
Strictly, the old name referred only to the northern group.
Q 29What did a group of Māori chiefs issue on 28 October 1835?
A declaration of independence
Drafted by Scottish businessman James Busby, it created the United Tribes of New Zealand; Britain recognised it in 1836.
Q 30Polynesians who settled the Chatham Islands became known as which people?
Moriori
Their mainland relatives became the Māori.