Polynesian people stepped onto these shores some 800-1000 years ago. Over the following centuries, this country was a place of independent tribal groups who looked after their own territories and lived close to the land, physically and spiritually.
Eventually every part of the country was overseen by a particular iwi (tribe) or hapū (sub-tribe), each led by their own rangatira (chiefs).
Around 235 years ago, new people began to arrive — voyagers from Britain and Europe. They became known generally as Pākehā.
The people of the land, the tangata whenua, became known as Māori.
Māori were interested in the goods and skills Pākehā had to offer. From about 1805, a few Māori began incorporating European skills and materials into their lives.
However, for many decades, Māori ways of life, values, and customs were almost unchanged by contact with Europe and Britain. Visitors from across the ocean entered the Māori world at their own risk.
Hākari platform at Kororareka, by Cuthbert Charles Clarke, 1849. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington (Ref:B-030-007)
Māori lived communally, with members of the village working together on day-to-day tasks. If visitors from another friendly iwi or hapū were expected, every effort was made to extend manaakitanga (hospitality). The hākari (feast) platform in this painting would later be piled high with food for an important gathering.
Warrior in full dress, by Sydney Parkinson, 1784, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington (Ref:PUBL-0037-15)
This warrior wears a dog-skin cloak and wields a tewhatewha, a long axe-shaped weapon. He has a mere, a short bladed weapon, in his belt.
Women dancing, by Edward Markham, 1834, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington (Ref:MS-1550-006)
Music — in movement and singing — was and continues to be a dynamic part of Māori life. Customarily, men and women perform different forms.
Map of New Zealand, from A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, by Sydney Parkinson (London, 1773), Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington (Ref:PUBL-0037-25)
Māori named this country in detail. This didn't stop Captain James Cook creating new place names on his three visits here between 1769 and 1777.
