The Maori people have retained in memory the epic poem that recounts their migration from the Tahiti-Bora Bora area to the island group we Anglophones call New Zealand. Confirmed by astronomers (from the poem’s description of the stars they used to navigate), the date of their arrival has been set sometime in the mid- to late 14th century. Biologists have determined that the only flora on the islands at that time were ferns of a wide variety of types up to tree size, and fauna were likewise limited to insects, a few birds and reptiles, and a very small range of mammals. The species that were not capable of long trans-oceanic migrations were not found anywhere else, indicating that the islands had been isolated for thousands and thousands of years.

Until Captain Cook showed up, the Maori had the place to themselves. The European settlers and their descendants did their best to subjugate the Maori, but the culture and power-sharing arrangements of modern New Zealand indicate that they failed to stamp out Maori language, culture, spiritual practices, family structures or politics.

So I nominate the Maori as the group of humans that most closely meets Mrrzy’s criteria.