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The history of New Zealand (Aotearoa) dates back to when the main settlement period started, after it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture. -
Abel Tasman is officially recognised as the first European to 'discover' New Zealand in 1642. His men were the first Europeans to have a confirmed encounter with Māori. The misunderstanding and fear aroused by two such different worlds coming together soon led to violence. -
The East India Company was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies, and later with Qing China.
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The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840.
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The English navigator Captain James Cook sighted New Zealand on 6 October 1769, and landed at Poverty Bay two days later. He drew detailed and accurate maps of the country, and wrote about the Māori people. His first encounter with Māori was not successful – a fight broke out in which some Māori were killed. -
Sealing and whaling were operated by offshore companies and were largely ship based. The saleable products were skins, bones and oil. Seals in New Zealand had been hunted to the verge of extinction by 1830 and sealing was outlawed in 1926. Whaling continued and some large land based stations were built.
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In May 1787, the British government sent a fleet of 11 ships - carrying over 1500 men, women and children - 20,000 kilometres around the world. This historic convoy, later known as the First Fleet, was led by Captain Arthur Phillip. The First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 20 January 1788. -
Te Pahi, the first influential Māori leader to visit New South Wales, and the proprietor of a safe anchorage frequented by the colony's whaling ships, was of value to King. With the safety and comfort of European visitors to New Zealand in mind, King spared no effort to convince Te Pahi of the benefits of an association with Europeans. -
The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an intertribal arms race in order to gain territory or seek revenge for past defeats.
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The Reverend Samuel Marsden, Chaplain to New South Wales (1765-1838), was the driving force behind the establishment of Anglican mission stations in New Zealand in the early 19th century. Born in England and based in New South Wales, Marsden was a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS). -
The Napoleaonic wars were very important because they helped popularise the musket. -
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The Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand, signed by a number of Māori chiefs in 1835, proclaimed the sovereign independence of New Zealand prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 -
The sailing ship Tory dropped anchor in Queen Charlotte Sound to pick up fresh water, food and timber before proceeding to Port Nicholson (Wellington Harbour). On board were representatives of the New Zealand Company, sent to smooth the way for organised settlement. -
The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand.
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The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by Captain William Hobson RN as consul for the British Crown and Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand. -
The Wairau Affray on 17 June 1843 was the first serious clash of arms between British settlers and Māori in New Zealand after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and the only one to take place in the South Island. -
The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, the Famine or the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852. -
The Flagstaff War, also known as Heke's War, Hōne Heke's Rebellion and the Northern War, was fought between 11 March 1845 and 11 January 1846 in and around the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.
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Battle Hill Farm Forest Park, north of Wellington, was the site of a clash between Ngāti Toa and British troops in 1846. After a period of Māori resistance to New Zealand Company attempts to buy land, Crown forces besieged the hilltop pā of Ngāti Toa chief Te Rangihaeata for several days. -
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown -
But diseases began to kill the Māori population, and by 1858 Europeans outnumbered Māori. -
The First Taranaki War was an armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty that took place between Māori and the New Zealand government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand's North Island from March 1860 to March 1861
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The Invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation of Māori tribes known as the Kingitanga Movement