The precise date at which the first inhabitants of New Zealand reached Otago and the extreme south (known to later Māori as "Murihiku") remains uncertain. Māori descend from a race of Polynesian sea-wanderers who, moved from East Asia and south-east Asia to the islands of the Pacific. Tradition tells of their further journeyings from Hawaiki to New Zealand, and some commentators have identified this homeland as Havai'i, an island in the Society Group. Overpopulation, scarcity of food and civil war forced many of them to migrate once more, and New Zealand became their new home. Māori settled New Zealand between 1280–1320. They quickly learnt to hunt the numerous species of moa and seals in New Zealand and settled across the North and South islands in less than a few decades. There is a change in the pollen record from inland Otago from 600 years ago from a forest to bracken flora. It has been inferred that this relates to fires being lit during Maori exploration.