Indigenous People - The Maori

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When the British (Pakeha) began their colonisation of New Zealand in 1840, they encountered strong resistance from those occupying the land. After dealing with the nomadic and relatively peaceful Australian Aborigines, the indigenous Maori tribes’ (iwi) keenness to defend what they believed was theirs, would provide a considerable challenge. The Maori's initial defence of their land and their fishing rights would be irritants that remain relevant today. New Zealand was the last major land mass to be discovered by Europeans of which the Dutch were the first to arrive in 1642. The Maoris were uninterrupted for the next hundred years until the British explorer Captain James Cook arrived in the 18th century. During their visit Cook's crew learnt first hand of the veracity of this Maori people and from then the Maori were seen as fierce, commanding and intimidating. From the late 1790s, new settlers traded weapons with the Maoris - often trading muskets for fruit or pigs. This led to the tribes fighting among themselves - a bloody period in New Zealand's history that has become known as the "Musket Wars". Figure 1 Currently, the Maori population is around 600,000 comprising 14% of New Zealand’s population. As the map above depicts the Maori live in all vicinities of New Zealand, yet predominately reside in the north due to the warmer climate. The original location of the Maori was islands of Polynesia which they left to escape warfare and the demands of excessive taxes. Although previously thought to be around 1150-950 AD, settlement of the NZ islands is now thought to be around 1350. The Maori people lived in tribal villages primarily hunting, fishing and farming. As New Zealand was further away from Britain than Australia it was not being used for convicts in the early 1800’s. It was deemed as uninhabited land on which the British felt was suitable to set up
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