🌅 A Single “Ultravoyager” Group Settled Both Hawaii and Easter Island

SOURCE

Shanks et al. (2026)

WHAT TO KNOW

• Researchers at the University of California, San Diego analyzed the genomes of 1,050 Polynesian individuals, finding the Indigenous people of Hawaii and Easter Island—two of the most geographically distant Polynesian populations—are more closely related to each other than to any other Polynesian group. The finding suggests the two populations descend from a single “ultravoyager” group that crossed vast oceans to settle both islands centuries ago.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Hawaii and Easter Island are separated by roughly 4,300 miles of open ocean, greater than the distance between New York and London. The researchers found a long-distance voyaging group originating from the Mangareva islands shared time together before some members went on to settle Hawaii and others voyaged to Easter Island (for context, the Mangareva islands are located 3,400 miles southeast of Hawaii and 1,600 miles west of Easter Island). The genetic analysis also revealed patterns suggesting the populations arose from repeated, small-group migrations, rather than a single, one-way migration. The findings support the existence of an ancient culture capable of making repeated, long-distance trips across the Pacific, which the researchers propose calling Holomoana Nui, or “great ocean voyagers.”

CONNECT THE DOTS

• When small groups establish new populations, they carry only a fraction of the genetic diversity of the original population, a phenomenon known as founder effects. Over time, the new subpopulation can have less genetic diversity than the founding population, sometimes making rare genetic variants—and the disorders and diseases they’re associated with—more common among the resulting group. In the present study, the researchers uncovered three rare genetic variants among Polynesian people that are linked to inherited disorders affecting vision and kidney function.