Māori history

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.

[6] Another study by Friedlaender et al. (2008) also confirmed that Polynesians are closer genetically to Micronesians, Taiwanese indigenous peoples, and East Asians, than to Melanesians.

[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 the Mount Tarawera eruption around 1314 CE.

[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 the founding canoes (waka) from which many Māori trace their descent.

With them the settlers brought a number of species which thrived: the kūmara, taro, yams, gourd, tī, aute (paper mulberry) – and dogs and rats.

[22] Huge numbers of moa bones – estimated to be from between 29,000 and 90,000 birds – have been located at the mouth of the Waitaki River, between Timaru and Oamaru on the east coast of the South Island.

Further south, at the mouth of the Waihemo (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 the Otago 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.

[26][27] Due to tectonic forces, including several earthquakes and tsunamis since human arrival, some of the Wairau Bar site is now underwater.

[31] From this period onward, some 32 species of birds became extinct, either through over-predation by humans and the kiore and kurī (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 the kohatu shag[38] becoming extinct; while others, such as kākāpō[39] and seals[40] were reduced in range and number.

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.

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.

[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".

[52] A trickle of escaped convicts from Australia and deserters from visiting ships, as well as early Christian missionaries, also exposed the indigenous population to outside influences.

Given accounts of cannibalism in this attack, shipping companies and missionaries kept their distance, significantly reducing their contact with the Māori for several years.

This was followed five years later by A Grammar and Vocabulary of the New Zealand Language, compiled by Professor Samuel Lee and aided by Kendall, and the chiefs Hongi Hika and Waikato, on a visit to England in 1820.

In 1839, with ongoing stories of increasing lawlessness and uncontrolled land speculation by British subjects reaching London, the government finally decided to intervene.

Despite conflicting interpretations of the provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi, relations between Māori and Europeans during the early colonial period were largely peaceful.

[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.

While these conflicts resulted in few Māori (compared to the earlier Musket wars) or European deaths, the colonial government confiscated tracts of tribal land as punishment for what were called rebellions.

[74] In 1884 King Tāwhiao withdrew money from the Kīngitanga bank, Te Peeke o Aotearoa,[75][76] to travel to London to see Queen Victoria and try to persuade her to honour the Treaty between their peoples.

[81] Professor Ian 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.

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.

From the late 19th century, successful Māori politicians such as James Carroll, Āpirana Ngata, Te Rangi Hīroa and Maui Pomare, were influential in politics.

They believed the future path called for a degree of assimilation,[85] with Māori adopting European practices such as Western medicine and education, especially learning English.