:I agree that the "multiple colonisations" are a little shaky. Primarily, they are in contrast to the discredited idea of a single "Great Fleet", and I don't think anyone is arguing for a single-waka origin. Atholl Anderson argues that the genetic variation amongst Māori with four distinct mitochondrial lineages and three distinct Y-chromosome lineages  requires a founding population of several hundred, and that these must necessarily have come from several islands since no single population centre of the time could support such an exodus.(New Oxford History of New Zealand, 2009, p 25 - research based on C. Hilliard's 2007 MA thesis Island Stories: The Writing of New Zealand History 1920-1940). Michael King suggests a founding population of 100-200 people including 50 women. He also points out that kiore DNA analysis suggests multiple colonisations by rats. While Māori certainly came from East Polynesia, and most kiore traces point to similar origins (Society Islands and Cook Islands), there is also kiore DNA evidence of links with Fiji or West Polynesia which did not result in colonisation.(Penguin History of New Zealand, 2003, pp 49-50; the kiore origin attributed to Lisa Matisoo-Smith, but no publication attributed). K. R. Howe also refers to Matisoo-Smith's work with kiore DNA, but mentions only the Cook and Society Islands link.(The Quest for Origins, 2003, p 178).-