Traditional Māori religion, a pre-European belief system of the Māori, was little modified from the religion of the tropical Eastern Polynesian homeland (Hawaiki Nui). Both religions conceive of everything, including natural elements, all living things, and that all are connected by common descent through whakapapa or genealogy. Accordingly, all things were thought of as possessing a life force or mauri. Illustrating this concept of connectedness through genealogy are the major personifications of pre-contact times: Tangaroa was the personification of the ocean and the ancestor or origin of all fish; Tāne was the personification of the forest and the origin of all birds; and Rongo was the personification of peaceful activities and agriculture and the ancestor of cultivated plants. (According to some, the supreme personification of the Māori was Io; however this idea is controversial).