Timeline Polynesian Expansion Akeelah By Akeelah24 Period: 300 to 500 Hawaiian Islands settled Period: 699 to 700 Polynesians settled Rapa Nui (Easter Islands) Period: 1000 to 1000 BCE Samoa is settled Period: 1500 to 1000 BCE The Lapita people spread across Polynesia Period: 2000 to 1500 BCE First travellers begin to move from Asia through the islands