New Zealand Colonization Timeline Project
11
The Colonization of New Zealand
By: Leyton Gleeson
New Zealand was first discovered by Polynesian navigators. The first people to arrive in New Zealand were ancestors of the Māori, probably around 1200 AD and 1300 AD. They used huge canoes to arrive to New Zealand, and most Early settlements were often at harbors or by other larger bodies of water.
Pre Colonization and Geography
Historians have predicted that, by the 14th century the Māori had discovered all of New Zealand. During the 1400’s they experienced a huge change in climate. It became much colder than they were used to. it Its
Pre Colonization/Geography
After about seven generations of living in New Zealand, some moved inland. The Māori culture moved from being largely maritime, to living primarily in places dominated by trees and birdlife.
Pre Colonization and Geography
Floral/Flax(Used for weaving and other things)
Diet: The Maori found a new species of floral, such as flax. Flax was used for weaving, and other purposes. They lived close to the sea because they were avid fishers. However, they loved hunting seals and large flightless birds.They ate a lot of vegetables, such as kūmara (also known as sweet potato).
New Zealand native with Kūmara
Cannabilism: Cannibalism was also very popular at that time in New Zealand. As well as polygamy. One of the main purposes behind cannabilism was when they had wars/battles. It was a form of dark humiliation to the enemy
Pre Colonization and Geography
A lot of the native tibes in New Zeland followed religons. The blived in multiple gods such as Papatūānuku - The Earth Mother, Ranginui - The Sky Father, Tāne-mahuta - God of forests and birds, and many others. They belived like many other indeigneous tibes that there gods affected their weather, crop/harvest, and other things.
Ranginui & Papatūānuku
James Cook(1728-1779
Coloinial Period Part 1
Abel Taesman(1603-1659
127 years after Taesman, Captain James Cook arrived at Poverty Bay, New Zealand. He arrived in 1769. The French explorer Jean François Marie de Surville was also discovering New Zealand at the same time that Cook was traveling. Over the years a lot of conflict went on between the Māori and the Europeans.
Colonial Period
The Europeans came over in 1642 from the Netherlands. Abel Taesman was the first of the Europeans to come over to New Zealand. Abel's time in New Zealand was brief. The Māori killed four of his men. Taseman named the place where his men were killed Moordenears Bay; we now know it to be the Golden Bay. The officail years of colonization were 1769 to 1914.
Colonial Periods Part 2
In 1809 there was an attack on a sailing ship, Boyd, in December. This was due to retalitaiton against the conlonists. Some sailors called New Zealand the Cannibal Islands after this battle.
Colonial Period
Part 2
Over the years there was a lot of conflict between the Māori and the Europeans. However, more Europeans were killed than Māori in some of these wars. Although the Māori killed significantly more Europeans in these small conflicts, the whalers from Europe got revnege on them. They would spear them with there harpons, used for killing whales.
In the early 1830’s the Christian Missionaries had been working in New Zealand for over 20 years. They believed they were doing God's work. They thought that God’s work was being hindered by violence and chaos. They were really pushing Colonization. However, colonization was very expensive. London did not think they really needed to colonize New Zealand at that time. Later on they would begin colonization.
Colonial Period Part 3
Colonization impacted New Zealand heavily because more than 20,000 Maori were killed off during the colonization period. They were all forced to learn english. There tribal languages were forbidden. Unfortuanlty, many were enslaved during the clonization period.
The europeans also contributed a lot to the Intertribal Wars. They gave a lot of weapons to the tribes that opposed each other. They (like many others brought over diseases from Europe). This lead to a major discrease in the Maori population.
Colonial
Period
Part 3
Post Colonial Times
One of the biggest movements for liberation was the New Zealand wars. However, there was another major battle known as “The Wairau Affair”. It was also called the “Wairau Massacre” and took place June 17, 1843. It was the first serious clash between the Maori Tribes and The British. This took place right after the singing of The Treaty of Waitangi. It took place on the South Islands.
Post Colonial Times
Religon: Originally colonization/expanding Christianity. was very expensive and the British did not want to "waste their money". Eventually they gave in to the colonization of New Zealand. The Maori tribe (like many others) believed in different gods. These people believed that there were multiple gods and spiritual influences. They belived that these things dictaded the weather, crop/harvest, and many ohter things. Sadly, the Anglican Church Missionary Society forced Christianity upon these tirbes. It took away a huge amount of there cultural identity and there society as a whole.
Pre Colonization
Conflcit with the Hecke Tribe: In 1845 the “New Zealand Wars” began. The Hecke tribe believed that the Maori had lost their status and their country to the British. The British fought the other tribes because they were trying to open up land for colonization. Around 3000 people were killed during the wars. The main reason that they felt that the Maori Tribe were acting like traitors was because they would ally with the colonists sometimes. This was mainly beacsue because they were trying to achieve tribal goals.
Post Colonization
Post Colonization
The Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi: The British knew that the Maori would not want to be colonized. This was due to the fact that it was a sovereign state. So a few British residents and missionaries created The Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi stated that the Europeans would promise to protect the Maori tribes and culture. They said they could live in the country and still be Maori. It was "their constitution". First more than 40 tribe leaders signed it, then another 500 Maori signed it. Unfortunatly, they didn't exactly kepp their promise. There was a ton of ravinging in land. The British stole a lot of sacred Maori land and resources. Also a major change in religon.
Post Colonization
Today New Zeland has a few systems of government. There is the Parliamentary System, Unitary System, and the Constitutional Monarchy. They are also definetly more of a liberal country. This is mainly due to all the conflict that happened with The Treaty of Waitangi.
Post Colonization
George Grey
While these wars where happening, a man named Robert Fitzroy was the Governor of New Zealand. He was an admired officer in the Royal Navy and also an acclaimed scientist. He was ordered to help both the Maori tibe and the colonizers come to peace during these wars. A while later on he killed himself. He was replaced by a man named George Grey, he would go on to be one the more dominant figures of the 19th century. Grey would later on become one of New Zealands prime ministers.
Post Colonization
Robert Fitzroy