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PEOPLE
OF THE LAND
The
people who live or lived close to nature in New Zealand:
Maori culture, european settlement, modern lifestyles, education
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Here
on left:
Cattle Flat, in the Dart valley, cleared for stock early this
century, and now deep into Mt Aspiring National Park.
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New
Zealand has been inhabited by people for little more than 1000
years.
The
first people to settle in New Zealand were Polynesians coming
from Pacific islands such as the Tahiti archipelago, and others.
The Maori people are their descendants.
Several
centuries after these first arrivals, the existence of New Zealand
was revealed to the rest of the world by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman,
who sailed past the islands in 1642. The great tide of non-polynesian
interaction and settlement, however, started after 1769 and the
first voyage of Captain James Cook to New Zealand.
Ever
since the first Maori canoe reached New Zealand, people have
-
lived in,
- interacted
with,
- taken
an interest in,
New
Zealand's nature in many different ways. Today we can learn about
these multiple experiences. We can see how people of different
cultural and technological backgrounds have acquired knowledge
about New Zealand's nature, how they have learned to live in its
contact, and how they have been able to gain experience from their
life close to the natural environment.
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Maori
greenstone carving. Photo Aotearoa Maori Tourism.
The
Maori discovered greenstone (jade) in remote mountainous areas
of the South Island. They opened trails across the land for
its trade, learned to work it into tools, decorations and weapons,
and fought battles for its possession.
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Books
Quoted :
Lloyd Homer
and Les Molloy, 1988. The Fold of the Land - New Zealand's National
Parks from the air. Allen & Unwin.
Peter Chandler,
1996: Land of the Mountain and the Flood - A Contribution to the
History of Runs and Runholders of the Wakatipu District. Queenstown
and District Historical Society.
References :
Craig Potton,
1999. New Zealand: Land and People. Craig Potton Publishing
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