The Moriori are the first settlers of the Chatham Islands. They are Polynesians who came from the New Zealand mainland by at least about 1500 AD, and possibly around the mid-15th century. The settlers' culture diverged from mainland Māori, and they developed a distinct Moriori language, mythology, artistic expression and way of life. The population of Moriori was recorded as being 1,806 in 2023, most of whom did not live on the Chatham Islands. During the late 19th century some prominent anthropologists proposed that Moriori were pre-Māori settlers of mainland New Zealand, and possibly Melanesian in origin; this hypothesis has been discredited by archaeologists since the early 20th century, but continued to be referred to by critics of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process into the 21st century.