In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a narrower definition during a lecture at the Geographical Society of Paris. The term Polynésie was first used in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses, who originally applied it to all the islands of the Pacific.
The largest country in Polynesia is New Zealand. In centuries past, they had a strong shared tradition of sailing and using stars to navigate at night. They have many things in common, including language relatedness, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. Polynesia ( UK: / ˌ p ɒ l ɪ ˈ n iː z i ə/, US: /- ˈ n iː ʒ ə/ from Ancient Greek: πολύς polys "many" and Ancient Greek: νῆσος nēsos "island") ( Tongan: Faka-Polinisia Māori: Porinihia Hawaiian: Polenekia Fijian: Kai-Polinisia Samoan: Polenisia Cook Islands Māori: Porinetia Tahitian: Pōrīnetia Tuvaluan: Polenisia Tokelauan: Polenihia) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The three major cultural areas in the Pacific Ocean: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia