When did the first immigrants get to Hawai`i? Most historians think the first wave of settlers arrived between the first and fifth centuries CE.
These people came from the Marquesas Islands. They paddled big double-hulled canoes with sails of woven leaves. They crossed over 2,000 miles of open ocean! We don’t know much about this first group. A second wave probably came from Tahiti between 1100 and 1300 CE. They seem to have kicked out the first group. Their culture is what we think of as ancient Hawaiian.