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© Lonely Planet Publications 30 lonelyplanet.com HISTORY •• Enter Europe 31 THE MORIORI & THEIR MYTH History James Belich One of NZ’s most persistent legends is that Maori found mainland NZ already occupied by a more peaceful and racially distinct Melanesian people, known as the Moriori, whom they exterminated. New Zealand’s history is not long, but it is fast. In less than a thousand One of NZ’s foremost This myth has been regularly debunked by scholars since the 1920s, but somehow hangs on. years these islands have produced two new peoples: the Polynesian Maori To complicate matters, there were real ‘Moriori’, and Maori did treat them badly. The real modern historians, James and European New Zealanders. The latter are often known by their Maori Belich has written a Moriori were the people of the Chatham Islands, a windswept group about 900km east of the name, ‘Pakeha’ (though not all like the term). NZ shares some of its history mainland. They were, however, fully Polynesian, and descended from Maori – ‘Moriori’ was their number of books on NZ with the rest of Polynesia, and with other European settler societies, but history and hosted the version of the same word. Mainland Maori arrived in the Chathams in 1835, as a spin-off of the has unique features as well. It is the similarities that make the differences so Musket Wars, killing some Moriori and enslaving the rest (see the boxed text, p686 ). But they TV documentary series interesting, and vice versa. NZ Wars. did not exterminate them. The mainland Moriori remain a myth. MAKING MAORI Despite persistent myths (see the boxed text opposite), there is no doubt that organisation, hence the rise of the Maori tribes. Competition for resources the first settlers of NZ were the Polynesian forebears of today’s Maori. Beyond increased, conflict did likewise, and this led to the building of increasingly that, there are a lot of question marks. Exactly where in east Polynesia did sophisticated fortifications, known as pa. Vestiges of pa earthworks can still Rumours of late survivals they come from – the Cook Islands, Tahiti, the Marquesas? When did they be seen around the country, on the hilltops of Auckland for example. of the giant moa bird Similarities in language arrive? Did the first settlers come in one group or several? Some evidence, The Maori had no metals and no written language (and no alcoholic drinks abound, but none have between Maori and Tahi- such as the diverse DNA of the Polynesian rats that accompanied the first or drugs). But their culture and spiritual life was rich and distinctive. Below been authenticated. So tian indicate close contact settlers, suggests multiple founding voyages. On the other hand, only rats Ranginui (sky father) and Papatuanuku (earth mother) were various gods of if you see a moa in your in historical times. Maori and dogs brought by the founders have survived, not the more valuable land, forest and sea, joined by deified ancestors over time. The mischievous travels, photograph it – is about as similar to pigs and chickens. The survival of these cherished animals would have had demigod Maui was particularly important. In legend, he vanquished the sun you have just made Tahitian as Spanish is high priority, and their failure to be successfully introduced suggests fewer and fished up the North Island before meeting his death between the thighs the greatest zoological to French, despite the voyages. See Kawhia ( p234 ) and the boxed text on p356 for the tales of just of the goddess Hine-nui-te-po in an attempt to conquer the human mortality discovery of the last 100 4294km separating these two of the great migratory canoes that made the voyage. embodied in her. Maori traditional performance art, the group singing and years. island groups. NZ seems small compared to Australia, but it is bigger than Britain, and dancing known as kapa haka, has real power, even for modern audiences. very much bigger than other Polynesian islands. Its regions vary wildly in Visual art, notably woodcarving, is something special – ‘like nothing but environment and climate. Prime sites for first settlement were warm coastal itself’, in the words of 18th-century explorer-scientist Joseph Banks. gardens for the food plants brought from Polynesia (kumara or sweet potato, gourd, yam and taro); sources of workable stone for knives and adzes; and ENTER EUROPE areas with abundant big game. NZ has no native land mammals apart from a NZ became an official British colony in 1840, but the first authenticated few species of bat, but ‘big game’ is no exaggeration: the islands were home to contact between Maori and the outside world took place almost two centuries Abel Tasman named NZ a dozen species of moa (a large flightless bird), the largest of which weighed earlier in 1642, in Golden Bay at the top of the South Island. Two Dutch ships Statenland, assuming it up to 240kg, about twice the size of an ostrich. There were also other species sailed from Indonesia, to search for southern land and anything valuable was connected to Staten For more about Maui of flightless bird and large sea mammals such as fur seals, all unaccustomed it might contain. The commander, Abel Tasman, was instructed to pretend Island near Argentina. and other mythological to being hunted. For people from small Pacific islands, this was like hitting to any natives he might meet ‘that you are by no means eager for precious It was subsequently figures, Maori tribal the jackpot. The first settlers spread far and fast, from the top of the North metals, so as to leave them ignorant of the value of the same’. named after the province structure and performing Island to the bottom of the South Island within the first 100 years. High- When Tasman’s ships anchored in the bay, local Maori came out in their of Zeeland in Tasman’s arts, see Maori Culture, protein diets are likely to have boosted population growth. canoes to make the traditional challenge: friends or foes? Misunderstanding this, Holland. p55 . By about 1400, however, with big-game supply dwindling, Maori econom- the Dutch challenged back, by blowing trumpets. When a boat was lowered to ics turned from big game to small game – forest birds and rats – and from take a party between the two ships, it was attacked. Four crewmen were killed. hunting to gardening and fishing. A good living could still be made, but it Tasman sailed away and did not come back; nor did any other European for 127 required detailed local knowledge, steady effort and complex communal years. But the Dutch did leave a name: ‘Nieuw Zeeland’ or ‘New Sealand’. AD 1000-1200 1642 1769 1772 1790s 1818–36 Possible date of the arrival of First European contact: Abel European contact recom- A French expedition arrives, Whaling ships and sealing Intertribal Maori ‘Musket Wars’ Maori in NZ. Solid archaeologi- Tasman arrives on an expedi- mences with visits by James under Marion du Fresne, and gangs arrive in the country. take place: tribes acquire mus- cal evidence points to about tion from the Dutch East Indies Cook and Jean de Surville. stays for some weeks at the Relations are established with kets and win bloody victories AD 1200, but much earlier (Indonesia) to find the ‘Great Despite some violence, both Bay of Islands to rest and refit. Maori, with Europeans depend- against tribes without them. dates have been suggested for South Land’. The party leaves managed to communicate with At first, relations with Maori ing on the contact for essen- The war tapers off in 1836, the first human impact on the without landing after a sea skir- Maori, and this time NZ’s link are excellent, but a breach of tials such as food, water and probably as a result of the environment. mish with Maori, but its legacy with the outside world proved Maori tapu (sacred law) leads to protection. equal distribution of weapons. remains in the country’s name. permanent. violence. 32 HISTORY •• Captain James Cook lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com HISTORY •• Enter Europe 33 Contact between Maori and Europeans was renewed in 1769, when English CAPTAIN JAMES COOK Tony Horwitz and French explorers arrived, under James Cook (see the boxed text, opposite ) If aliens ever visit earth, they may wonder what to make of the countless obelisks, faded plaques and Jean de Surville. Relations were more sympathetic, and exploration contin- and graffiti-covered statues of a stiff, wigged figure gazing out to sea from Alaska to Australia, ued, motivated by science, profit and great power rivalry. Cook made two more from NZ to North Yorkshire, from Siberia to the South Pacific. James Cook (1728–79) explored visits between 1773 and 1777, and there were further French expeditions. Unofficial visits, by whaling ships in the north and sealing gangs in the more of the earth’s surface than anyone in history, and it’s impossible to travel the Pacific with- ‘I believe we were out encountering the captain’s image and his controversial legacy in the lands he opened to south, began in the 1790s. The first mission station was founded in 1814, in the Bay of Islands, and was followed by dozens of others: Anglican, Methodist all glad to leave New the West. Zealand. It is not a pleas- For a man who travelled so widely, and rose to such fame, Cook came from an extremely and Catholic. Trade in flax and timber generated small European-Maori set- tlements by the 1820s. Surprisingly, the most numerous category of European ant place. Amongst the pinched and provincial background.

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