The word
pa (IPA ) can refer to any
Maori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to
hill forts – fortified settlements with
palisades and defensive – and also to fortified villages. Pa are mainly in the
North Island of New Zealand, north of
Lake Taupo. Over 5000 sites have been located, photographed and examined although few have been subject to detailed analysis. No pa have been yet located from the early
colonization period when early Polynesian-Maori colonizers lived in the lower South Island. Variations similar to pa are found throughout central
Polynesia, in the islands of
Fiji,
Tonga and the
Marquesas Islands.