European Contact on Maori Culture

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What was the impact of European contact on Maori culture from 1770-1840 When the Europeans first landed in the bays of New Zealand, they brought many different things from England with them. Some of the things have been debated to be somewhat “harmful” to the Maori and their culture. The Europeans did not just bring things that could harm the Maori with them; they also brought lots of beneficial things that helped develop the society that we are living in today. One of the first things that the Europeans introduced to the Maori was trade. The Europeans needed somewhere to stay, land to build on, food and water. In order for them to get they had to trade goods in with the Maori. The Europeans first traded muskets (old fashioned guns) with the Maori to get what they needed. The Maori were just introduced to muskets and were not sure what they were but they soon learnt and adapted the muskets to fit their likings. Introducing trade might have been a good thing because the Maori could trade with other tribes and later on different countries to help build up their economy. Trade also might have been a bad thing to introduce because it increased wants and needs throughout the Maori’s lifestyle. With the introduction of muskets there were consequences because muskets, being a weapon, caused there to be conflict between the different tribes and hapu. Muskets soon became a thing that you needed to have in order to survive or be able to fight against the different tribes around New Zealand. The tribe with the most muskets automatically became the strongest tribe and with the power of muskets came consequences. War between tribes broke out and since they had muskets to help, there was a lot more Maori left dead then there wold of been. I think that introducing the musket to Maori was a bad thing because it caused violence and jealousy between Maori people and in the long run

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