<P> Clements and Musker were fascinated to learn during their research that the people of Polynesia abruptly stopped making long - distance voyages about three thousand years ago . Their navigational traditions predated those of European explorers , beginning around 300 CE . Native people of the Pacific possessed knowledge of the world and their place in it prior to the incursion of foreigners . For example , Kānaka Maoli ( Native Hawaiians ) were well aware of the existence of far away islands , had names for these places , and were interested in exploring them to benefit their societies . This voyaging heritage was made possible by a geographical knowledge system based on individual perspective rather than the European cardinal direction system . The reasons for the halt of this voyaging tradition remain unknown , but scholars have offered climate change and resulting shifts in ocean currents and wind patterns as one possible explanation . Native peoples of the Pacific resumed voyaging again a thousand years later . Clements and Musker set the film at the end of that era , about two thousand years ago , on a fictional island in the central Pacific Ocean , which drew inspiration from elements of the real - life island nations of Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga . </P>
<P> Clements and Musker were fascinated to learn during their research that the people of Polynesia abruptly stopped making long - distance voyages about three thousand years ago . Their navigational traditions predated those of European explorers , beginning around 300 CE . Native people of the Pacific possessed knowledge of the world and their place in it prior to the incursion of foreigners . For example , Kānaka Maoli ( Native Hawaiians ) were well aware of the existence of far away islands , had names for these places , and were interested in exploring them to benefit their societies . This voyaging heritage was made possible by a geographical knowledge system based on individual perspective rather than the European cardinal direction system . The reasons for the halt of this voyaging tradition remain unknown , but scholars have offered climate change and resulting shifts in ocean currents and wind patterns as one possible explanation . Native peoples of the Pacific resumed voyaging again a thousand years later . Clements and Musker set the film at the end of that era , about two thousand years ago , on a fictional island in the central Pacific Ocean , which drew inspiration from elements of the real - life island nations of Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga . </P>
what island is the moana movie based on
what island is the moana movie based on
Fiji Samoa Tonga
Fiji Samoa Tonga