A quick map of the South Pacific I found.
A quick map of the South Pacific I found.
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Given how big the Pacific and how tiny and spread apart the islands are, it makes sense to me that the “race” of seafarers who populated the islands would also have reached South America. Perhaps not in large numbers but it almost had to have occurred at some point.
New Zealand wasn’t populated until about 1200 AD and by Polynesians, not Australasians.