How did Lapita culture spread from Fiji to Tonga and Samoa?

The Lapita culture, characterized by its distinctively decorated pottery, was carried from Fiji to Tonga and Samoa by highly skilled seafarers and navigators. These settlers, who arrived in Fiji at least 3,500 years ago, possessed advanced expertise in canoe building and horticulture, allowing them to expand across the Pacific Ocean.12

Upon reaching Tonga and Samoa, these groups established the foundations from which the first distinctively Polynesian cultures evolved. While the Lapita people are recognized for their mobility and maritime prowess, some prehistorians suggest that the cultural complex may have arrived in Fiji via a later wave of seafaring immigrants, and there remains ongoing academic discussion regarding the specific speed and nature of this migration through the region. Following their initial settlement, the practice of pottery making eventually disappeared in areas such as Samoa.23