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Mar 16, 1000
polonesians
the polynesians were exploring the many islands around the south pacific ocean. at 1500bc, the polynesians traveled from polynesia to a range of nearby islands, including new caledonia,fiji, samoa, and tonga. 1500 years later, in 0bc, some of them moved on to the cook islands. around 1000ac, they traveled to new zealand. It was a 2500 year journey for the first people to reach new zealand. -
Abel tasman
642 years after the first polynesians arrived, an explorer by the name of abel tasman had found his way to new zealand, which was called aotearoa(land of the long white cloud) by the mouri. abel tasman never actually got ashore, because he accidentialy challenged the maori to battle upon arrival. he did this at golden bay, which he named murderers bay. it was renamed after there was large amopunts of gold was found there. four europeans and one maori were killed because of the misunderstanding. -
james cook
james cook was the first european to reach the new zealand shore, and he managed to quite accuratly map the country. he was the first to set up a relationship with the maori, and was intent on keeping peace with them. they're were still some conflicts and deaths of twelve of his crew, and ten maori. he traveled to new zealand three times, once in 1769 on the 'endeavour',when he came ashore at poverty bay, then again in 1773 on the 'resolution', and for a final time in 1777, on the 'adventure'. -
jean francois-marie de surville
jean francois-marie de surville was a frenchman who only just missed passing captin cook while aproching the coastline of new zealand due to bad weather. they came ashore in doubtless bay, and avoided conflict with the local maori. tey did, however, abduct a maori with the intention of sellng him back at france, but he died at sea. -
Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne
Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne's visit to new zealand was the most disasterous of all of the origional new zealand explorers. during his stop at the bay of islands, there was a misunderstanding between the maori and Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, causing the deth of Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 25 of is crew, and, as revenge, around 250 of the local maori population. -
european settlers
after a wave of explorers, some europeans started coming over to new zealand and staying. they were the first of many settlers from foreign countrys. they came for the wide spaces of land that were supposedly free for the tacking. many of the pakeha(europeans) started trading with the maori, to get food, and sometimes, land. sometimes they would exchange firearms for these items, leading to massive power changes between the maori tribes. -
whalers
the first whaling ship arrived in new zealand during 1791. it was called 'william and anne'. they hunted the humpback whal, and the main place they did deep sea whaling was dusky sound. they were close enough to the shore line to drop of cargo and resupply the ship's store rooms with out loosing too much time. whaling was stopped in 1978 after it stopped being economic, and whales are now protected under the marine mammals protection act. -
sealers
a year or so after the whalers got into new zealand waters, the sealers came. sealing is simmilar to whaling, and took place in remote areas with large seal populations, like fiordland and, just like whaling, dusky sound. the first sealing ship was called 'britannia', and the american sealer was credited with the founding of foveaux strait in 1804. -
the flax trade
new zealand was also found useful for some of its plant life. flax began to be used in ropes for baoting and sailing. it started when 'fancey' visited thames, and traded to get flax for indian naval boats. in 1827 two europeans, thomas raine, and david ramsey, set up a base for trading wood and timber in hokianga. -
missionarys
with the coming of settlers, came the coming of missionarys, intent on spreading the good word of jesus to the 'sinners' of this new country. the first two missionarys to arrive in new zealand were samuel marsden and thomas kendall, who came ashore in the bay of islands. they established a missionary station at rangihoua. they wrote a mauri indestry, and opened the first school in new zealand. henry williams arrived 9 years later, and as more missionarys arrived, they spread out across auteroa.