New Zealand History
Navigating by the ocean currents, wind and the stars, the first people to reach New Zealand arrived in the 13th century from East Polynesia. They became hunters and gatherers as well as farmers and lived reasonably
New Zealand History
Navigating by the ocean currents, wind and the stars, the first people to reach New Zealand arrived in the 13th century from East Polynesia. They became hunters and gatherers as well as farmers and lived reasonably well until they came into contact with Europeans. Despite living in separate tribes, Europeans viewed the Polynesians as one collective group; their descendants became Maoris.
The first Europeans arrived in 1642 led by Dutchman Abel Tasman. Tasman set about charting and mapping the new land. New Zealand went relatively untouched by Europeans for another 127 years after Tasman’s crew arrived. The next batch of explorers to visit were from Britain and led by James Cook. Beginning in 1769, Cook made a total of three voyages to New Zealand and brought extensive knowledge of the country back to Britain.
Late in the 18th century, whalers and sealers began to settle encouraging trade. New Zealand became part of a Pacific-wide trade system with goods being sold as far as China. Trading stimulated interactions between Maoris and Europeans allowing Maoris to acquire firearms, establishing a new form of tribal warfare in which tribes with firearms could easily raid and kill those without. The warfare became serious in the 1830s and this time was known as the Musket Wars and only ended when the majority of tribes gained possession of muskets thus initiating a balance of power.
In order to cull the recent interest by the French in New Z