Glad they've actually made an official polynesia-area civ. I'm a Kiwi, so pretty pleased... BUT there are many different cultures in the area, and I am almost... almost inclined to be insulted by the claim that Hawaiian and Maori cultures are the same. Good work, but I'm sticking with Civ4 still... at least they're stil patching etc. this.
Very good point. Though I can understand why they did. I'd wager more than a few players had never heard of the Hivans prior to this scenario. The other reason why I'm okay with it has a lot to do with a particular chapter in
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Unlike in pretty much every other part of the world, the myriad islands of Polynesia were populated from the same mother culture, pushing out island by island through the ocean.
Still, the conditions of each archipelago and island varied enough that distinctly different cultures emerged as a result. Hawai'ian and Maori cultures are as different from each other as Marquesan and Tongan cultures are, if not more so.
Interestingly enough, many other CiV "nations" aren't necessarily limited to a single cultural group. China, for example, has historically included many ethnic/cultural groups beyond simply the Han Chinese. 56 are
officially recognized as bestowing Chinese nationality, and despite the vast cultural differences between the Zhuang and Tibet, both ethnic groups are "Chinese" under the modern nationalist view. (Many Tibetans would beg to differ and that is, of course, another thread for another day.)
Russia, America, Germany (to a lesser extent), Egypt, India (especially so), and a few others are all CiV-represented nations that have, for much of their history, consisted of a wide mix of different cultural and ethnic groups. Each is obviously a very different case, but the one big difference they have over Polynesia is that they actually exist as modern nations. There is no nation of Polynesia, but for gameplay balance and as a nod to inclusivity, there had to be in CiV, otherwise Hawai'ians building Moai and fielding Maori Warriors would have made little sense. The myth of Polynesian nationalism is a fig leaf for the game mechanics and a nod to inclusivity of many underrepresented cultures.
TL;DR: Honestly, I like how it turned out, but the part that bugs me isn't so much the ethnocultural conflation but the fact that there was never a nation called Polynesia.
