Christchurch
Original settlers of the Christchurch region were Moa Hunters. These settlers hunted the moa out of existence by about the year 1500. The hunters cleared large areas of Mataī and Tōtara forests by fire, changing the landscape. The Māori people (Ngati Mamoe and later Ngai Tahu) arrived in Canterbury between 1500 and 1700. The Moa Hunters were either killed or adopted by tribes. On February 16, 1770, Captain James Cook was the first European to see the Canterbury peninsula from his ship the Endeavour. Thinking it was an island, he named it Banks Island after the ship’s botanist, Joseph Banks. It was not until around 1815 when European sailors from the sealing ship, Governor Bligh, landed and set foot on Banks Peninsula. During the 1820s the local Māori population fell due to fighting between different groups of Ngāi Tahu and raids by the Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha from 1830 to 1832. The impact of European diseases, especially measles and influenza only increased the death toll of the Māori people. The Māori tribes fought each other to near disappearance in the Christchurch region.