New Zealand

The last large habitable land

The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and subsequently developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1769 the British explorer Captain James Cook became the first European to set foot on and map New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi which paved the way for Britain’s declaration of sovereignty later that year and the establishment of the Crown Colony of New Zealand in 1841. Subsequently, a series of conflicts between the colonial government and Māori tribes resulted in the alienation and confiscation of large amounts of Māori land. New Zealand became a dominion in 1907; it gained full statutory independence in 1947, retaining the monarch as head of state. Today, the majority of New Zealand’s population of 5.25 million is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pasifika. Reflecting this, New Zealand’s culture is mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers but has recently broadened from increased immigration. The official languages are English, Māori, and New Zealand Sign Language, with the local dialect of English being dominant.

The first people to reach New Zealand were Polynesians in ocean going waka, who are believed to have arrived in several waves, approximately between 1280 and 1350 CE. According to most Māori oral traditions, the islands were first discovered by the semi-legendary explorer Kupe while in pursuit of a giant octopus.^[33] These traditions held that Kupe was then followed by a great fleet of settlers, who set out from Hawaiki in eastern Polynesia in around 1350.^[34] The existence of a single great fleet which settled New Zealand has since been superseded by the belief that the majority of settlement was a planned and deliberate event that occurred over several decades.^{[35][36][37][38][39]} The exact date of this settlement is unclear, with recent sources favouring settlement in the 14th century. While mitochondrial DNA variability within Māori populations suggest that New Zealand was first settled between 1250 and 1300,^[24][40][41] no human remains, artefacts or structures can be reliably dated to earlier than the Kaharoa eruption of Mount Tarawera in around 1314 CE.^[42] This scenario is also consistent with a debated third line of oral evidence,^[43] traditional genealogies (whakapapa) which point to around 1350 as a probable arrival date for several of the migratory waka (canoes) from which many Māori trace their descent.^[44][45] Some Māori later migrated to the Chatham Islands where they developed their distinct Moriori culture;^[46] a later 1835 invasion by Māori iwi resulted in the massacre and virtual extinction of the Moriori.