The global turn in history from the late twentieth century onwards has led to a fascinating corpus of work. In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of research on the concept of the “Global Middle Ages” with it featuring as a major theme of conferences. The Middle Ages is a notoriously Eurocentric field and it has been (wrongly) appropriated by certain hate groups who believe it embodies their desire for a white, Christian, largely male-dominated society. Attempts to globalize the Middle Ages remain somewhat inevitably Eurocentric, whether in focus or by taking the categories that define the European Middle Ages and trying to apply them to non-European cultures. This need not be the case, as medievalists often pride themselves on their ability to understand societies and cultures alien to their own by viewing the Middle Ages from the perspective of those living in the period. These skills of understanding different perspectives could be applied to other regions and cultures. All that is required is an open mind and a recognition of the fundamental concepts that underpin non-European perspectives.

Critical to a global approach is the need to gain an understanding from the perspective of a particular region and culture. Efforts and explicit acknowledgements have been made of the need to incorporate other perspectives, but generally this is limited to Africa and the Americas. Despite these intentions, too often the rich histories of these places have been generalized, oversimplified, and they remain influenced by the Western gaze, while certain areas of the globe remain under-represented or even wholly ignored. For instance, Polynesia has remained largely on the periphery of global history. When it has featured, it has been portrayed in a simplistic and all-encompassing manner that is inaccurate. The real challenge of global history is to write from other perspectives, not write about other places from your own particular world view. It is only through this approach that any depth of understanding can be gained. This book therefore attempts to show how South Polynesians viewed their world from 900 to 1600 CE.

The term Polynesia is itself a Western label and an artificial construct. Just as time periods are constructed, so too are geographical spaces. The term “Polynesia” is derived from the Greek words “poly,” meaning many, and “nesia” for island.