Cook Islands Māori in the context of "Polynesians"

Avarua (meaning "Two Harbours" in Māori) is a district and town in the north of the island of Rarotonga, the largest island of the Cook Islands. It serves as the capital of the Island territory and is further sub-divided into 19 tapere (sub-districts). As per 2016 census, the district had a population of 4,096 individuals. It is an important commercial and economic center with the island's main airport (Rarotonga International Airport) and Avatiu harbour located here.
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Cook Islanders are residents of the Cook Islands, which is composed of 15 islands and atolls in Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. Cook Islands Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of the Cook Islands. Only 15–17% of Cook Islands Māori people live in the Cook Islands now, with New Zealand and Australia each having larger populations. Originating from Tahitian settlers in the sixth century, the Cook Islands Māori bear cultural affinities with New Zealand Māori and Tahitian Mā'ohi, although they also exhibit a unique culture and developed their own language, which is one of two official languages in the Cook Islands, based on the Te Reo Maori Act of 2003.

Māori (Māori: [ˈmaːɔɾi] ; endonym: te reo Māori [tɛ ɾɛɔ ˈmaːɔɾi], 'the Māori language', also shortened to te reo) is an Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost member of the Austronesian language family, it is related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian. The Māori Language Act 1987 gave the language recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages. There are regional dialects of the Māori language.Prior to contact with Europeans, Māori lacked a written language or script. Written Māori now uses the Latin script, which was adopted and the spelling standardised by Northern Māori in collaboration with English Protestant clergy in the 19th century.

In the second half of the 19th century, European children in rural areas spoke Māori with Māori children. It was common for prominent parents of these children, such as government officials, to use Māori in the community. Māori declined due to the increase of the European population and government-imposed educational policies; by the early 20th century its use was banned in school playgrounds and classrooms across the country. The number of speakers fell sharply after 1945, but a Māori language revival movement began in the late 20th century and slowed the decline. The Māori protest movement and the Māori renaissance of the 1970s caused greater social awareness of and support for the language.

The culture of the Cook Islands reflects the traditions of its fifteen islands as a Polynesian island country, spread over 1,800,000 square kilometres (690,000 sq mi) in the South Pacific Ocean. The traditions are based on the influences of those who settled the Cook Islands over many centuries. Polynesian people from Tahiti settled in the Cook Islands in the 6th century. Portuguese captain Pedro Fernandes de Queirós made the first recorded European landing in the islands in the early 17th century, and well over a hundred years later, in the 18th century, the British navigator, Captain James Cook arrived, giving the islands their current name. Missionaries developed a written language, bringing schools and Christianity to the Cook Islands in the early 19th century. Cook Islands Māori, also known as Māori Kūki 'Āirani or Rarotongan, is the country's official language.

The Culture Division of the Cook Islands Government supports and preserves the country's national heritage. One of the popular traditional dances of the Cook Islands is the ura, a sacred ritual usually performed by a female who moves her body to tell a story, accompanied by intense drumming by at least five drummers. The craft of the locals can be seen in dresses, sarongs, and jewellery crafted with local products, such as shells, and an important practice among women is tivaevae, a type of quilting. Typical cuisine consumed in the Cook Island is fresh seafood such as octopus or clams, lamb or suckling pig, and fresh fruit, especially coconut. Rugby union and bowling are popular sports, and the islands hosted the 1986 Pacific Cup and the 1998 Polynesia Cup. The House of Ariki (Are Ariki) offers dignity but limited power to the ariki, historical chiefs in the islands' social hierarchy.

Kupe was a legendary Polynesian explorer who, according to Māori oral history, was the first person to discover New Zealand. He is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, and probably spoke a Māori proto-language similar to Cook Islands Māori or Tahitian. His voyage to New Zealand ensured that the land was known to the Polynesians, and he would therefore be responsible for the genesis of the Māori people.

Kupe was born in the geographically uncertain Māori homeland of Hawaiki, to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, between 40 and 23 generations ago. The more specific reasons for Kupe's semi-legendary journey, and the migration of Māori in general, have been contested. Māori oral history recounts that Hawaiki and other Polynesian islands were experiencing considerable internal conflict during his time, which is thought to have possibly caused an exodus.

Pākehā (or Pakeha; /ˈpɑːkɛhɑː, -kiːhɑː, -kiːə/; Māori pronunciation: [ˈpaːkɛhaː]) is a Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesian New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zealander. It is not a legal term and has no definition under New Zealand law. Papa'a has a similar meaning in Cook Islands Māori.