Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Enter Europe
NZ became an official British colony in 1840, but the first authenticated contact between
Maori and the outside world took place almost two centuries earlier in 1642, in Golden
Bay at the top of the South Island. Two Dutch ships sailed from Indonesia, to search for
southern land and anything valuable it might contain. The commander, Abel Tasman,
was instructed to pretend to any natives he might meet 'that you are by no means eager
for precious metals, so as to leave them ignorant of the value of the same'.
Abel Tasman named NZ 'Statenland', assuming it was connected to Staten Island near
Argentina. It was subsequently named after the province of Zeeland in Tasman's Hol-
land.
When Tasman's ships anchored in the bay, local Maori came out in their canoes to
make the traditional challenge: friends or foes? Misunderstanding this, the Dutch chal-
lenged back, by blowing trumpets. When a boat was lowered to take a party between the
two ships, it was attacked. Four crewmen were killed. Tasman sailed away and did not
come back; nor did any other European for 127 years. But the Dutch did leave a name:
'Nieuw Zeeland' or 'New Sealand'.
Contact between Maori and Europeans was renewed in 1769, when English and
French explorers arrived, under James Cook and Jean de Surville. Relations were more
sympathetic, and exploration continued, motivated by science, profit and great power
rivalry. Cook made two more visits between 1773 and 1777, and there were further
French expeditions.
Unofficial visits, by whaling ships in the north and sealing gangs in the south, began in
the 1790s. The first mission station was founded in 1814, in the Bay of Islands, and was
followed by dozens of others: Anglican, Methodist and Catholic. Trade in flax and tim-
ber generated small European-Maori settlements by the 1820s. Surprisingly, the most
numerous category of European visitor was probably American. New England whaling
ships favoured the Bay of Islands for rest and recreation; 271 called there between 1833
and 1839 alone. To whalers, 'rest and recreation' meant sex and drink. Their favourite
haunt, the little town of Kororareka (now Russell), was known to the missionaries as 'the
hellhole of the Pacific'. New England visitors today might well have distant relatives
among the local Maori.
For a thorough overview of NZ history from Gondwanaland to today, visit
www.history-
