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Thehistory of the Māori began with the arrival ofPolynesian settlers inNew Zealand (Aotearoa inMāori), in a series of ocean migrations incanoes starting from the late 13th or early 14th centuries. Over time, in isolation the Polynesian settlers developed a distinctMāori culture.
Early Māori history is often divided into two periods: the Archaic period (c. 1300 – c. 1500) and the Classic period (c. 1500 – c. 1769). Archaeological sites such asWairau Bar show evidence of early life in Polynesian settlements in New Zealand. Many of the crops that the settlers brought from Polynesia did not grow well in the colder New Zealand climates. However, many native bird and marine species were hunted or collected for food, with birds, sometimes to extinction. An increasing population, competition for resources and changes to the new local climate led to the social and cultural changes seen in the Classic period. A more elaborate art form developed and a new warrior culture emerged with fortified villages, known aspā. One group of Māori settled in theChatham Islands around 1500; they created a separate, pacifist culture and became known as theMoriori.
The arrival of Europeans to New Zealand, starting in 1642 withAbel Tasman, brought enormous changes to the Māori, who were introduced to Western food, technology, weapons and culture by European settlers, especially from Britain. In 1840 the British Crown and many Māori chiefs signed theTreaty of Waitangi, allowing New Zealand to become part of theBritish Empire and granting Māori the status of British subjects. Initial relations between Māori and Europeans (whom the Māori called "Pākehā") were largely amicable. However, rising tensions over disputed land sales led toconflict in the 1860s and large-scaleland confiscations. Social upheaval and epidemics of introduced disease also took a devastating toll on the Māori people, causing their population to decline and their standing in New Zealand to diminish.
But by the start of the 20th century, the Māori population had begun to recover, and efforts have been made to increase their social, political, cultural and economic standing in wider New Zealand society. Aprotest movement gained support in the 1960s seekingredress for historical grievances. In the 2013 census, there were approximately 600,000 people in New Zealand identifying as Māori, making up roughly 15 per cent of the national population.
Evidence from genetics, archaeology, linguistics, and physical anthropology indicates that the ancestry of Polynesian people stretches all the way back toindigenous peoples of Taiwan.Language-evolution studies[1] and mtDNA evidence[2] suggest that most Pacific populations originated from Taiwanese indigenous peoples around 5,200 years ago.[3] TheseAustronesian ancestors moved south to thePhilippines where they settled for some time.[4] From there, some eventually sailed southeast, skirting the northern and eastern fringes ofMelanesia along the coasts ofPapua New Guinea and theBismarck Islands to theSolomon Islands where they again settled, leaving shards of theirLapita pottery behind and picking up a small amount of Melanesian DNA. From there, some migrated down to the western Polynesian islands ofSamoa andTonga while others island-hopped eastward, all the way fromOtong Java in the Solomons to theSociety Islands ofTahiti andRa'iatea (once called Havai'i, orHawaiki). From there, a succession of migrant waves colonised the rest of eastern Polynesia, as far as Hawai'i in the north, theMarquesas Islands andRapa Nui (Easter Island) in the east, and lastly New Zealand in the far south.[5]
Analysis by Kayseret al. (2008) discovered that only 21 per cent of the Māori-Polynesianautosomal gene pool is of Melanesian origin, with the rest (79 per cent) being of East Asian origin.[6] Another study by Friedlaenderet al. (2008) also confirmed that Polynesians are closer genetically toMicronesians, Taiwanese indigenous peoples, andEast Asians, than toMelanesians. The study concluded that Polynesians moved through Melanesia relatively rapidly, allowing only limited admixture between Austronesians and Melanesians.[7] The Polynesian population experienced afounder effect andgenetic drift.[8] Evidence of an ancestral phase in the southern Philippines comes from the discovery that Polynesians share about 40 per cent of their DNA withFilipinos from this area.[4]
In New Zealand, there are no human remains, artefacts or structures which are confidently dated to earlier than the Kaharoa Tephra, a layer of volcanic debris deposited by theMount Tarawera eruption around 1314 CE.[9] The 1999 dating of somePolynesian rat (kiore) bones to as early as 10 CE[10] was later found to be an error. New samples of rat bone (and also of rat-gnawed shells and woody seed cases) gave dates later than the Tarawera eruption except for three which dated to a decade or so before the eruption.[11]
Pollen evidence of widespread forest fires a decade or two before the eruption has led some scientists to speculate that humans may have lit them, in which case the first settlement date could have been somewhere in the period between 1280 and 1320 CE.[12] However, the most recent synthesis of archaeological and genetic evidence concludes that, whether or not some settlers arrived before the Tarawera eruption, the main settlement period was in the decades after it, somewhere between 1320 and 1350 CE, possibly involving a coordinated mass migration.[13] This scenario is also consistent with a much debated third line of evidence – traditional genealogies (whakapapa) which point to 1350 AD as a probable arrival date for many of thefounding canoes (waka) from which many Māori trace their descent.[14][15]
Māori oral history describes the arrival of ancestors in a number of large ocean-going waka, fromHawaiki. Hawaiki is the spiritual homeland of many eastern Polynesian societies and is widely considered to be mythical. However, a number of researchers think it is a real place – the traditionally important island ofRaiatea in theLeeward Society Islands (inFrench Polynesia), which, in the local dialect, was called Havai'i.[16][4] Migration accounts vary amongiwi, whose members may identify withseveral waka in their genealogies.
With them the settlers brought a number of species which thrived: thekūmara,taro,yams,gourd,tī,aute (paper mulberry) – anddogs andrats. It is likely that other species from their homeland were also brought, but did not survive the journey or thrive on arrival.[17]
In the last few decades,mitochondrial-DNA (mtDNA) research has allowed an estimate to be made of the number of women in the founding population, of between 50 and 100.[18][19]
A 2022 study using radiocarbon technology from over 500 archaeological sites states that 'early Māori settlement happened in the North Island between AD 1250 and AD 1275',[20] similar to a 2010 study indicating 1280 as an arrival time.[21]
The earliest period of Māori settlement is known as the "Archaic", "Moahunter" or "Colonisation" period. The eastern Polynesian ancestors of the Māori arrived in a forested land withabundant birdlife, including several now extinctmoa species weighing between 20 kilograms (44 lb) and 250 kg (550 lb) each. Other species, also now extinct, included theNew Zealand swan, theNew Zealand goose and the giantHaast's eagle, which preyed upon the moa. Marine mammals – seals in particular – thronged the coasts, with evidence of coastal colonies much further north than those which remain today[update].[22] Huge numbers of moa bones – estimated to be from between 29,000 and 90,000 birds – have been located at the mouth of theWaitaki River, betweenTimaru andOamaru on the east coast of theSouth Island. Further south, at the mouth of theWaihemo (Shag River), evidence suggests that at least 6,000 moa were slaughtered by humans over a relatively short period of time.[23]
Archaeology has shown that theOtago region was the node of Māori cultural development during this time, and the majority of archaic settlements were on or within 10 km (6 mi) of the coast. It was common for people to establish small temporary camps far inland for seasonal hunting. Settlements ranged in size from 40 people (e.g.,Palliser Bay in Wellington) to between 300 and 400 people, with forty buildings (such as at Shag River).[24]
The best-known and most extensively studied Archaic site is atWairau Bar in the South Island.[25] The site is similar to eastern Polynesiannucleated villages and is the only New Zealand archaeological site containing the bones of people who were born elsewhere.Radiocarbon dating of charcoal, human bone, moa bone, estuarine shells and moa eggshell has produced a wide range of date estimates, from the early 13th to the early 15th centuries, many of which might be contaminated by "inbuilt age" from older carbon which was eaten or absorbed by the sampled organisms.[26][27] Due to tectonic forces, including several earthquakes and tsunamis since human arrival, some of the Wairau Bar site is now underwater.[28] Work on the Wairau Bar skeletons in 2010 showed that life expectancy was very short, the oldest skeleton being 39 and most people dying in their 20s. Most of the adults showed signs of dietary or infection stress.Anaemia andarthritis were common. Infections such astuberculosis (TB) may have been present, as the symptoms were present in several skeletons. On average, the adults were taller than other South Pacific people, at 170 centimetres (5 ft 7 in) for males and 160 cm (5 ft 3 in) for females.[29]
The Archaic period is remarkable for the lack of weapons and fortifications so typical of the later "Classic" Māori,[30] and for its distinctive "reel necklaces".[31] From this period onward, some 32 species of birdsbecame extinct, either through over-predation by humans and thekiore andkurī (Polynesian Dog) they introduced;[32] repeated burning of the vegetation that changed their habitat; or climate cooling, which appears to have occurred from about 1400–1450. For a short period – less than 200 years – the early Māori diet included an abundance of large birds and fur seals that had never been hunted before. These animals rapidly declined: many, such as the various moa species,[33][34][35][36] the New Zealand swan[37] and thekohatu shag[38] becoming extinct; while others, such askākāpō[39] and seals[40] were reduced in range and number.
Work byHelen Leach shows that Māori were using about 36 different food plants, although many required detoxification and long periods (12–24 hours) of cooking. D. Sutton's research on early Māori fertility found that first pregnancy occurred at about 20 years and the mean number of births was low, compared with other neolithic societies. The low number of births may have been due to the very low average life expectancy of 31–32 years.[41] Analysis of skeletons at Wairau Bar showed signs of a hard life, with many having had broken bones that had healed.[29] This suggests that the people ate a balanced diet and enjoyed a supportive community that had the resources to support severely injured family members.
The cooling of the climate, confirmed by a detailedtree-ring study nearHokitika, shows a significant, sudden and long-lastingcooler period from 1500. This coincided with a series of massive earthquakes in the South Island Alpine fault, a major earthquake in 1460 in theWellington area,[42]tsunamis that destroyed many coastal settlements, and the extinction of the moa and other food species. These were likely factors that led to sweeping changes in the Māori culture, which developed into the "Classic" period[43] that was in place at the time of European contact.
This period is characterised by finely madepounamu (greenstone) weapons and ornaments, elaborately carved canoes – a tradition that was later extended to and continued in elaborately carved meeting houses calledwharenui[44] – and a fiercewarrior culture. They developedhillforts known aspā, practisedcannibalism,[45][46][47] and built some of the largest war canoes (waka taua) ever made.
Around the year 1500, a group of Māori migrated east toRēkohu, now known as theChatham Islands. There they adapted to the local climate and the availability of resources and developed into a people known as theMoriori,[48] related to but distinct from the Māori of mainland New Zealand. A notable feature of Moriori culture was an emphasis onpacifism. When a party of invading NorthTaranaki Māori arrived in 1835, few of the estimated Moriori population of 2,000 survived; they were killed outright and many were enslaved.[49]
The New Zealand historian,Michael King, describes the Māori as "the last major human community on earth untouched and unaffected by the wider world".[50] Besides a brief offshore skirmish with Abel Tasman in 1642, the first encounter with the outside world took place with Captain Cook's party on his first voyage in 1769, followed by later contact in 1773 and 1777 during the second and third voyages. Cook spent time mapping the islands in 1769 and meeting Māori, particularly in the Marlborough Sounds in 1777. Cook and his crew recorded their impressions of Māori at the time. This early contact proved problematic and sometimes fatal, with some Europeans being cannibalised.[51]
From the 1780s, Māori encountered European and Americansealers andwhalers. Some Māori crewed on the foreign ships, with many crewing on whaling and sealing ships that operated in New Zealand waters. Some of the South Island crews were almost totally Māori. Between 1800 and 1820, there were 65 sealing voyages and 106 whaling voyages to New Zealand, mainly from Britain and Australia.[52] A trickle of escapedconvicts from Australia and deserters from visiting ships, as well as earlyChristian missionaries, also exposed the indigenous population to outside influences. During theBoyd Massacre in 1809, Māori took hostage and killed 66 members of the crew and passengers of the sailing shipBoyd in apparent revenge for the captain whipping the son of a Māori chief. Given accounts of cannibalism in this attack, shipping companies and missionaries kept their distance, significantly reducing their contact with the Māori for several years.[53]
The runaways were of various standing within Māori society, ranging from slaves to high-ranking advisors. Some runaways remained little more than prisoners, while others abandoned European culture and identified as Māori. These Europeans "gone native" became known asPākehā Māori. Many Māori valued them as a means to acquire European knowledge and technology, particularly firearms. When Whiria (Pōmare II)[54] led a war-party againstTītore in 1838, he had 131 Europeans among his warriors.[55]Frederick Edward Maning, an early settler, wrote two lively accounts of life in these times, which have become classics ofNew Zealand literature:Old New Zealand andHistory of the War in the North of New Zealand against the Chief Heke. European settlement of New Zealand increased steadily. By 1839, estimates placed the number of Europeans living among the Māori as high as 2,000, two-thirds of whom lived in the North Island, especially in theNorthland Peninsula.[56]
Between 1805 and 1840, the acquisition ofmuskets by tribes in close contact with European visitors drove a desperate need to acquire muskets to avoid extermination by, and allow aggression against, their neighbours; the recent introduction of thepotato allowed more distant campaigns and more time for campaigning among Māori tribes. This led to a period of particularly bloodyintertribal warfare known as theMusket Wars, in which many groups were decimated and others driven from their traditional territory.[57] The absolute requirement for trade goods – mostlyNew Zealand flax, thoughmokomokai (tattooed heads) were also saleable[58] – led many Māori to move to unhealthy swamplands where flax could be grown.[59][60] It has been estimated that during this period the Māori population dropped from about 100,000 (in 1800) to between 50,000 and 80,000 by the wars' end in 1843. The picture is confused by uncertainty over how or if Pākehā Māori were counted, and by the near-extermination of many of the less powerfuliwi andhapū (subtribes) during the wars. ThepacifistMoriori in theChatham Islands similarly suffered massacre and subjugation at the hands of someNgāti Mutunga andNgāti Tama who had fled from theTaranaki region.
At the same time, the Māori suffered high mortality rates from Eurasian infectious diseases, such asinfluenza,smallpox andmeasles, which killed an unknown number of Māori: estimates vary between 10 and 50 per cent.[61][62] The spread ofepidemics resulted largely from the Māori lacking acquiredimmunity to the new diseases. The 1850s were a decade of relative stability and economic growth for Māori. A huge influx of European settlers in the 1870s increased contact between the indigenous people and the newcomers.
Te Rangi Hīroa documents an epidemic caused by a respiratory disease that Māori calledrewharewha. It "decimated" populations in the early 19th century and "spread with extraordinary virulence throughout the North Island and even to the South... Measles,typhoid,scarlet fever,whooping cough and almost everything, exceptplague andsleeping sickness, have taken their toll of Maori dead".[63]
Contact with Europeans led to a sharing of concepts. The Māori language was first written down byThomas Kendall in 1815, inA korao no New Zealand. This was followed five years later byA Grammar and Vocabulary of the New Zealand Language, compiled by ProfessorSamuel Lee and aided by Kendall, and the chiefsHongi Hika andWaikato, on a visit to England in 1820. Māori quickly adopted writing as a means of sharing ideas, and many of their oral stories and poems were converted to the written form.[64] Between February 1835 and January 1840,William Colenso printed 74,000 Māori-language booklets from his press atPaihia. In 1843, the government distributed free gazettes to Māori calledKo Te Karere O Nui Tireni.[65] These contained information about law and crimes, with explanations and remarks about European customs, and were "designed to pass on official information to Māori and to encourage the idea that Pākehā and Māori were contracted together under the Treaty of Waitangi".[66]
Before 1840, New Zealand was not formally part of the empire and was therefore beyond the reaches of British law. In 1839, with ongoing stories of increasing lawlessness and uncontrolled land speculation by British subjects reaching London, the government finally decided to intervene. On 6 May 1839, it expanded the New South Wales colony to include New Zealand and it dispatched the Royal Navy captain,William Hobson, with instructions to establish sovereignty over all or part of New Zealand after negotiation with Māori, and to set up a colony. On 6 February 1840, Hobson signed theTreaty of Waitangi with many North Island chiefs at Waitangi.[67] Most other chiefs from around New Zealand signed the treaty during 1840: some chiefs refused to sign.[68] In May 1840, Hobson established British sovereignty, in two declarations. First, over the North Island based oncession and second, over the South Island, based on its beingterra nullius. Hobson then became the colony's first governor.
The Treaty gave Māori the rights ofBritish subjects and guaranteed Māori property rights and tribal autonomy, in return for accepting Britishsovereignty.[69] Considerable dispute continues over aspects of the Treaty of Waitangi. The original treaty was written mainly byJames Busby and translated into Māori byHenry Williams, who was moderately proficient in Māori, and his son William, who was more skilled.[70][71] At Waitangi, the chiefs signed the Māori translation.
Despite conflicting interpretations of the provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi, relations between Māori and Europeans during the early colonial period were largely peaceful. Many Māori groups set up substantial businesses, supplying food and other products for domestic and overseas markets. Some of the early European settlers learned the Māori language and recordedMāori mythology, includingGeorge Grey, Governor of New Zealand from 1845 to 1855 and 1861–1868.[72]
However, rising tensions over disputed land purchases and attempts by Māori in the Waikato to establish what some saw as a rival to the British system of royalty – viz. theMāori King Movement (Kīngitanga) – led to theNew Zealand wars in the 1860s. These conflicts started when rebel Māori attacked isolated settlers in Taranaki but were fought mainly between Crown troops – from both Britain and new regiments raised in Australia, aided by settlers and some allied Māori (known askupapa) – and numerous Māori groups opposed to the disputed land sales, including some Waikato Māori.
While these conflicts resulted in few Māori (compared to the earlier Musket wars) or European deaths, the colonial governmentconfiscated tracts of tribal land as punishment for what were called rebellions. In some cases the government confiscated land from tribes that had taken no part in the war, although this was almost immediately returned. Some of the confiscated land was returned to both kupapa and "rebel" Māori. Several minor conflicts also arose after the wars, including the incident atParihaka in 1881 and theDog Tax War from 1897 to 1898.
The Native Land Acts of 1862 and 1865 established theNative Land Court, which was intended to transfer Māori land from communal ownership into individual household title as a means to assimilate and to facilitate greater sales to European immigrants.[73] Māori land under individual title became available to be sold to the colonial government or to settlers in private sales. Between 1840 and 1890, Māori sold 95 per cent of their land (63,000,000 of 66,000,000 acres (270,000 km2) in 1890). In total 4 per cent of this was confiscated land, although about a quarter of this was returned. 300,000 acres was returned to Kupapa Māori mainly in the lower Waikato River Basin area. Individual Māori titleholders received considerable capital from these land sales, with some lower Waikato Chiefs being given 1000 pounds each. Disputes later arose over whether or not promised compensation in some sales was fully delivered. Some claim that later, the selling off of Māori land and the lack of appropriate skills hampered Māori participation in developing the New Zealand economy, eventually diminishing the capacity of many Māori to sustain themselves.[citation needed]
The Māori MPHenare Kaihau, fromWaiuku, who was executive head of the King Movement, worked alongside KingMahuta to sell land to the government. At that time the king sold 185,000 acres per year. In 1910 the Māori Land Conference at Waihi discussed selling a further 600,000 acres. King Mahuta had been successful in getting restitution for some blocks of land previously confiscated, and these were returned to the King in his name. Henare Kaihau invested all the money, 50,000 pounds, in an Auckland land company which collapsed; all 50,000 pounds of the Kīngitanga money was lost.[74]
In 1884 KingTāwhiao withdrew money from the Kīngitanga bank,Te Peeke o Aotearoa,[75][76] to travel to London to seeQueen Victoria and try to persuade her to honour the Treaty between their peoples. He did not get past theSecretary of State for the Colonies, who said it was a New Zealand problem. Returning to New Zealand, the PremierRobert Stout insisted that all events happening before 1863 were the responsibility of the Imperial Government.[77]
By 1891 Māori comprised just 10 per cent of the population but still owned 17 per cent of the land, although much of it was of poor quality.[78]
By the late 19th century a widespread belief existed amongst both Pākehā and Māori that the Māori population would cease to exist as a separate race or culture, and become assimilated into the European population.[79] In 1840, New Zealand had a Māori population of about 50,000 to 70,000 and only about 2,000 Europeans. By 1860 the Europeans had increased to 50,000. The Māori population had declined to 37,520 in the 1871 census, althoughTe Rangi Hīroa (Sir Peter Buck) believed this figure was too low.[80] The figure was 42,113 in the 1896 census, by which time Europeans numbered more than 700,000.[81] ProfessorIan Pool noticed that as late as 1890, 40 per cent of all female Māori children who were born died before the age of one, a much higher rate than for males.[82]
The decline of the Māori population did not continue; it stabilised and began to recover. By 1936 the Māori figure was 82,326, although the sudden rise in the 1930s was probably due to the introduction of the family benefit, payable only when a birth was registered, according to Professor Pool. Despite a substantial level ofintermarriage between the Māori and European populations, many ethnic Māori retained their cultural identity. A number of discourses developed as to the meaning of "Māori" and to who counted as Māori or not.[citation needed]
The parliament instituted fourMāori seats in 1867, giving all Māori men universal suffrage,[83] 12 years ahead of their European New Zealand counterparts. Until the1879 general elections, men had to satisfy property requirements of landowning or rental payments to qualify as voters: owners of land worth at least £50, or payers of a certain amount in yearly rental (£10 for farmland or a city house, or £5 for a rural house). New Zealand was thus the first neo-European nation in the world to give the vote to its indigenous people.[84] While the Māori seats encouraged Māori participation in politics, the relative size of the Māori population of the timevis à visPākehā would have warranted approximately 15 seats.
From the late 19th century, successful Māori politicians such asJames Carroll,Āpirana Ngata,Te Rangi Hīroa andMaui Pomare, were influential in politics. At one point Carroll became ActingPrime Minister. The group, known as theYoung Māori Party, cut across voting-blocs in Parliament and aimed to revitalise the Māori people after the devastation of the previous century. They believed the future path called for a degree ofassimilation,[85] with Māori adopting European practices such asWestern medicine and education, especially learning English.
During theFirst World War, aMāori pioneer force was taken to Egypt but quickly was turned into a successful combat infantry battalion; in the last years of the war it was known as the "Māori Pioneer Battalion".[86] It mainly comprisedTe Arawa,Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki,Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti,Ngāti Porou andNgāti Kahungunu and later manyCook Islanders; the Waikato and Taranaki tribes refused to enlist or beconscripted.[87]
Māori were badly hit by the1918 influenza epidemic when the Māori battalion returned from theWestern Front. The death rate from influenza for Māori was 4.5 times higher than for Pākehā. Many Māori, especially in the Waikato, were very reluctant to visit a doctor and went to a hospital only when the patient was nearly dead. To cope with isolation, Waikato Māori, under Te Puea's leadership, increasingly returned to the oldPai Mārire (Hau hau) cult of the 1860s.[88]
Until 1893, 53 years after the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori did not pay tax on land holdings. In 1893 a very light tax was payable only on leasehold land, and it was not till 1917 that Māori were required to pay a heavier tax equal to half that paid by other New Zealanders.[89]
During theSecond World War, the government decided to exempt Māori from the conscription that applied to other citizens. The Māori volunteered in large numbers, forming the 28th orMāori Battalion.[90][91] Altogether 16,000 Māori took part in the war.[92] Māori, including Cook Islanders, made up 12 per cent of the total New Zealand force. 3,600 served in the Māori Battalion,[90] the remainder serving in artillery, pioneers, home guard, infantry, airforce, and navy.[92]
Since the 1960s, Māoridom has undergone a cultural revival[93] concurrent with activism for social justice and aprotest movement.[94] Government recognition of the growing political power of Māori and political activism have led to limitedredress for confiscation of land and for the violation of other property rights. In 1975 the Crown set up theWaitangi Tribunal,[95] a body with the powers of aCommission of Enquiry, to investigate and make recommendations on such issues, but it cannot make binding rulings; the Government need not accept the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal, and has rejected some of them.[96] Since 1976, people of Māori descent may choose to enrol on either the general or Māori roll for general elections, and may vote in eitherMāori orgeneral electorates, but not both.[97]
During the 1990s and 2000s, the government negotiated with Māori to provide redress for breaches by the Crown of the guarantees set out in the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. By 2006 the government had provided over NZ$900 million in settlements, much of it in the form of land deals. The largest settlement, signed on 25 June 2008 with seven Māori iwi, transferred nine large tracts of forested land to Māori control.[98] As a result of the redress paid to many iwi, Māori now have significant interests in the fishing and forestry industries. There is a growing Māori leadership who are using the treaty settlements as an investment platform for economic development.[27]
Despite a growing acceptance of Māori culture in wider New Zealand society, the settlements have generated controversy. Some people have complained that the settlements occur at a level of between 1 and 2.5 cents on the dollar of the value of the confiscated lands; conversely, some denounce the settlements and socioeconomic initiatives as amounting to race-based preferential treatment. Both of these sentiments were expressed during theNew Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy in 2004.[99][100]
{{cite book}}:|journal= ignored (help)Wilmshurst et al. (2008) [...] concluded that initial Polynesian settlement of New Zealand was c. 1280 AD [...].
Whole tribes sometimes relocated to swamps where flax grew in abundance but where it was unhealthy to live. Swamps were ideal places for the breeding of the TB bacillus.
The Māori renaissance since 1970 has been a remarkable phenomenon.
Media related toMaori history at Wikimedia Commons