The people of oceania were an extremely adventurous group. As a distinct population with common origins, the Polynesians were the most widely spread people on Earth before 1500 CE. Few other groups in history have traveled so much while taking so few material possessions with them. The Polynesians settled the islands of the vast triangle formed by the Hawaiian lslands, Ester Island, and New Zealand. With sides approx mately 6500 kilometers in length, this triangle covers almost twice the area of the United States. The Polymesians began their expansion throug the South Pacific around 2000 BCE, and by the time of Marco Polo's visit to China, they had settled all of its major islands.