When early explorers and settlers arrived in New Zealand, they found the islands already populated by the Polynesian Maori people. This account details the interaction between the Maori leaders and the British Crown from first contact to New Zealand's eventual autonomy. As settlers outnumbered Maori, the struggle for land resulted in war and confiscations, and Maori loss of land and traditional lifestyle was accompanied by widespread ill health. It would be well into the twentieth century before the Crown would have to address promises made to the Maori in the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, and...
When early explorers and settlers arrived in New Zealand, they found the islands already populated by the Polynesian Maori people. This account det...