History

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 * = =History= ||
 * < New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major landmasses. The first settlers came to New Zealand around 700 to 2000 years ago. They were Eastern Polynesians, and probably came in a series of migrations.

Over the following centuries these settlers developed into a distinct culture now known as Māori. The population was divided into Iwi (tribes) and hapu (subtribes) which would c-operate, compete and sometimes fight with each other. At some point a group of Māori migrated to the Chatham Islands where they developed their own distinct Moriori culture. || ||
 * [[image:cook_ship_500.jpg width="444" height="319" align="center"]] || The Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman and his crew were the first known Europeans to reach New Zealand in 1642. Māori killed several of the crew and no Europeans returned to New Zealand until British explorer James Cook's voyage of 1768–71. Cook reached New Zealand in 1769 and mapped almost the entire coastline. Following Cook, New Zealand was visited by numerous European and North American whaling, sealing and trading ships. ||
 * Food and goods like metal tools and weapons werre traded to the Māori for thier timber, food artefacts and water. On the occasion, Europeans would trade their goods for sex. The potato and the musket transformed Māori agriculture and warfare, although the resulting Musket Wars died out once the tribal imbalance of arms had been rectified. From the early nineteenth century, Christian missionaries began to settle New Zealand, eventually converting most of the Māori population, who had become disillusioned with their indigenous faith by the introduction of Western Culture. || [[image:kiwi-fruit_3629.jpg width="427" height="271" align="center"]] ||