According to interpretations of Hawaiian legends and radiocarbon dating estimations, it is speculated that sometime during 300-600 A.D. a Polynesian chief named Nanaulu became the first person to discover the uninhabited Hawaiian Islands.
Sailing with him across the vast Pacific in barges and double-hulled canoes via Samoa and the Society Islands, and probably via the Marquesas, were perhaps 100 of his subjects.
Other chiefs and their followers arrived in Hawaii from either Samoa or Tahiti during Nanaulu’s lifetime, and none of these early settlers ever returned to their South Seas island homes.
They remained isolated in Hawaii until about late 900 A.D or early 1000 A.D, when a latter group of Polynesians arrived from the Society Islands under the leadership of a chief named Nanamaoa.
It was Nanamaoa who pioneered the subsequent arrival of large numbers of people from the Society Islands, as occurred during the time of Nanamaoa’s grandson, when many Polynesian immigrants settled in Hawaii.
Cross-voyaging between Hawaii and southern Polynesia took place for about 150 years after the arrival of these newcomers.
Then, sometime between 1100 A. D. and 1300 A.D., this cross-voyaging stopped, and the inhabitants of Hawaii, the Hawaiians, then entered a long period of isolation from outside contact.
Who came next?
There is some evidence that Japanese and Spanish seafarers visited Hawaii prior to Capt. James Cook’s discovery in 1778.
Hawaiian legend refers to Japanese being shipwrecked on Maui before 1778.
Also, since Spanish galleons had been sailing across the Pacific between Acapulco and Manila on trade routes approximately 1,200 miles north of and 800 miles south of Hawaii beginning in 1535, it’s conceivable that a galleon blown off course in a storm could have reached Hawaii sometime between 1535 and 1778.
And, a Spanish map, document and artifact found in Hawaii appear to indicate that Spaniards had indeed visited Hawaii in the 1500s.
Likewise, Hawaiian legend tends to corroborate Spanish contact with Hawaii before Cook.
Furthermore, missionary William Ellis wrote in an 1827 report that eight Dutchmen jumped ship in February 1600, went ashore at Kealakekua Bay, married Hawaiian women and became chiefs.
