The earliest inhabitants of New Zealand were the Maori. Traditionally most Maori believe that their ancestors travelled south to New Zealand from their homelands in Eastern Polynesia, which was called Hawaiiki, in one of seven great migratory canoes. According to some Maori traditions, the navigator Kupe discovered the land around 950AD. Kupe had sailed south in search of the fish of his ancestor, Maui. It was Kupe’s wife who named the land, Aotearoa, which means land of the long white cloud. Other sources put these first settlers as late as 650AD.

 

Abel Janzoon was the first European to actually discover New Zealand. He sighted the Southern Alps in 1642, but didn’t actually set foot on land. Then in the same year the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman arrived at what is now known as Murderer’s Bay. Three of his crewman were cannibalised in this bay before he left. He named the land ‘Staten Land’, though a cartographer later corrected his mistake to New Zealand, which effectively complimented the homeland New Holland.

 

The English navigator and explorer Captain James Cook arrived in the Endeavour in 1769 and claimed the land for Britain. Captain Cook visited New Zealand three times between 1769 and 1776 to map the coastline, and the sealers and whalers were quick to follow.

 

Trade between the Maori and the Europeans (Pakeha) intensified and trade routes were quickly established between the Maori and the new colony in New South Wales. The Maoris were good traders and adapted well to new technology, particularly the musket.

 

By the early 1800’s several Christian missionary stations had been established. Intensive European colonisation began in the late 1830’s as British settlers started to emigrate to New Zealand from 1840, shortly after British Sovereignty was declared.

 

In 1835, Maori chiefs signed a Declaration of Independence, which the British recognised, and in 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. The treaty guaranteed Chieftainship to the Maori (exclusive possession of their lands and other rights) and Governorship to Queen Victoria. In England this was taken to mean ‘settlement and control’.

 

However, over the following years, the terms of the treaty were increasingly ignored, as more and more settlers arrived. In the 1840’s and the 1860’s, land wars broke out in the central and northern regions of the North Island, between settlers and Maoris who were opposed to further settlement. Many Maori’s fought alongside the British troops and settlers, against other tribes.

 

It wasn’t until the second half of the nineteenth century that the Maori parliament first met. By then the British Government had confiscated land from those tribes that fought against the government, and introduced the Native Land Court, which effectively facilitated land sales.

 

New Zealand’s first government, formed in 1852, was also responsible for ‘Native’ policy, but it wasn’t until around 1867 that the Maori gained their first 4 seats in Parliament. This marked the beginning of major contributions to Maori policy including health, education and land development.

 

The 1880’s saw the beginnings of party politics, and in 1880 John Balance formed the Liberal Party. Balance’s promise of ‘one man, one vote’ swept the party to victory in 1890 and marked the beginning of sweeping changes and reforms. Women were given the vote in 1893, and the ‘Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1894’ introduced a radical labour system and the worlds first pension scheme.

 

In 1901, New Zealand declined to join the Commonwealth of Australia and eventually became a Dominion of Britain in 1907, becoming a full sovereign state in 1947.

 

The Reform Party swept to power in the early twentieth century due to industrial unrest at the power of the unions and plight of the farmers and employers. The United-Reform coalition government was formed in 1931 during an economic Depression that was sweeping the country.

 

Some 300,000, New Zealand soldiers fought alongside the British through both World Wars between 1914 and 1945. The most notable occasion was at Gallipolli, where the failure of the operation coupled with the tremendous loss of life resulted in the formation of the Gallipolli Peninsula Peace Park, where many thousands of New Zealanders and Australians gather each year to commemorate those who fell.

 

In 1984, the Labour Prime Minister David Lange declared New Zealand a nuclear free country, and in a well-publicised event prevented British and US warships from using New Zealand’s ports. Lange’s Government radically altered the future development of New Zealand with its farsighted ideas.

 

Maori demands for recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi grew in the 1970’s, but it wasn’t until 1985 that real authority was given, and negotiation between the Crown and Tribal authorities started to take place.

 

The National Party came into power in 1990, and strongly criticised French nuclear testing in the Pacific. In 1995 a major incident occurred when French military personnel bombed the Greenpeace vessel in New Zealand waters. Diplomatic relations were broken off with the French and only resumed two years after nuclear testing had ceased in 1997.

 

In 1996, a new electoral system was introduced where for the first time; Maori MP numbers were increased to a proportion that was almost representative of the presence they held in the community.

 

Helen Clark was elected in 1999, becoming New Zealand’s first elected woman Prime Minister.

 

New Zealand is now a member of several international organisations and has since become a leader of the international community in the South Pacific.