“Moana Nui O Kiva i te Rangi Nui O Kiva”

 

1. This is an ancient Cook Islands Maori statement expressing that our home is here between the ocean and the skies and the belief that everything there belongs to us, te tangata, the people.

 

2. The 15 islands of the Cook Islands in the heart of the vast South Pacific Ocean have been occupied by its native Maori people since the great Pacific migrations in large voyaging canoes or Vaka Moana, which took place from the Polynesian homeland of Avaiki, possibly starting as early as 1,500 years ago. The deep and wide waters connecting these 15 islands have always been used as highways and for the abundant natural resources which they contain. Our people developed a distinct Polynesian perspective, language, lifestyle and culture.

 

3. Accordingly, our Cook Islands Maori tradition and culture informs us that we are people of the sea. Our home is the wide South Pacific Ocean and is named respectfully “Moana Nui O Kiva”. Our alternative worldview is that we, in our islands, are not separated, but connected by the ocean. Everything in the seas was for the wise use of the brave, beautiful people of our 15 islands, in communion with nature and the ocean.

 

4. This “wise use” of ocean resources is also reflected in the Cook Islands Maori principle known as oonu. This is the life force of deep, hidden things of value like the precious natural resources found in the marine environment. This includes whales, turtles, fish, shellfish and importantly it can extend to black pearls grown in the northern Cook Islands and seabed mineral resources located in the Cook Islands exclusive economic zone.