Ancestors of the Polynesians found the trees growing in the northwest New Guinea area around 3,500 years ago. They gave up the rice cultivation they had brought with them from Taiwan, and raised breadfruit instead. They took the trees with them wherever they went in the Pacific. The exceptions were Easter Island and New Zealand: both places were too cold to grow the trees. Their ancient eastern Indonesian cousins spread the plant west and north through insular and coastal Southeast Asia. In historical times, it has also been widely planted in tropical regions elsewhere.