Overview
More than 3,000 years of oceanic exploration and settlement have dispersed Pacific culture far and wide. Yet Pacific people remain linked by an ancient heritage. Their shared origins can be found in their languages, spirituality, art forms, and technologies, as well as their DNA.
As Pacific peoples migrated from place to place, they adopted new ideas, materials, and techniques, and adapted existing practices to suit their new environments. Here, you can see how practices like making textiles, tattoos, tools, fishhooks, musical instruments, and adornments were at once similar and distinct.
Today, Pacific people go on moving around the islands of this vast ocean region. The legacy of adaptation continues, ancient connections endure, and new connections are formed.