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New Zealand was first settled by Eastern Polynesians
Now they are known like Maori -
The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and his crew.
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British explorer James Cook mapped almost the entire coastline. Following Cook, New Zealand was visited by numerous European and North American
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The resulting inter-tribal Musket Wars encompassed over 600 battles between 1801 and 1840, killing 30,000–40,000 Māori.
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James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832 to set order but he couldn´t although he created the national flag
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Ongoing unrest and the dubious legal standing of the Declaration of Independence prompted the Colonial Office to send Captain William Hobson to claim sovereignty for the British Crown and negotiate a treaty with the Māori. The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in the Bay of Islands
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The colony gained a representative government and the 1st New Zealand Parliament met in 1854
