New Zealand History

Pre 20th Century

The Polynesian navigator Kupe has been credited with the discovery of New Zealand around AD 800. Legend has it his wife, Hine-te-aparangi, named it Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud. Continuous settlement of New Zealand dates from about 1200, following which a fairly steady migration of people came from Kupe's homeland of Hawaiki (Ra'iatea in modern-day French Polynesia) who, according to tradition, followed Kupe's own navigational instructions. Their culture, essentially Polynesian but developed over centuries of only limited contact with 'the home lands', was hierarchical and often sanguinary.

In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman briefly sailed along the west coast of New Zealand; any thoughts of a longer stay were thwarted when his attempt to land resulted in several of his crew being killed and eaten. In 1769, Captain James Cook circumnavigated the two main islands aboard the Endeavour. Initial contact with the Maoris also proved violent but Cook, impressed with the Maoris' bravery and spirit and recognising the potential of this newfound land, grabbed it for the British crown before setting sail for Australia.

When the British began their antipodean colonising, New Zealand was originally seen as an offshoot of Australian enterprise in whaling and sealing: in fact, from 1839 to 1841 the country was under the jurisdiction of New South Wales. However, increased European settlement soon proved problematic: a policy was urgently required regarding land deals between the settlers (Pakeha) and the Maori. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, with the Maori ceding governorship of their country to Britain in exchange for protection and guaranteed possession of their lands. But relations between the Maori and Pakeha, although harmonious in some regions, soured in others. Causes were varied and complex, but the most common feature was disagreements about land. The Northland War of 1844-46 was followed by more fighting in other Maori strongholds of Taranaki (1860-61 and 1865-69), Waikato (1863-64) and the East Coast (1868-72). The fighting eventually died down, and though there was no formal resolution to any of the five wars, the Pakehas certainly claimed victory.

Modern

By the late 19th century, things had temporarily calmed down. The discovery of gold had engendered much prosperity, and wide-scale sheep farming meant New Zealand became an efficient and mostly self-reliant country. Sweeping social changes - women's suffrage, social security, the encouragement of trade unions and the introduction of child care services - cemented New Zealand's reputation as a country committed to egalitarian reform.

New Zealand was given dominion status in the British Empire in 1907 and granted autonomy by Britain in 1931; independence, however, was not formally proclaimed until 1947.

From 1945, Maoris experienced both a population explosion and massive urbanisation. In 1936, Maoris were 17% urban and 83% rural. Fifty years later, these proportions had reversed. The immigration gates, which until 1960 were pretty much labelled 'whites only', widened, first to allow in Pacific Islanders for their labour, and then to allow in (East) Asians for their money. These transitions would have generated major socioeconomic change whatever happened in politics. But most New Zealanders associate the country's recent 'Big Shift' with the politics of 1984.

In 1984, NZ's third great reforming government was elected. Its antinuclear foreign policy delighted the left, and its more-market economic policy delighted the right. Middle NZ was uneasy about the antinuclear policy, which threatened NZ's ANZUS alliance with Australia and the US. But in 1985, French spies sank the antinuclear protest ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour, killing one crewman. The lukewarm American condemnation of the French act brought middle NZ in behind the antinuclear policy, which became associated with national independence. Other New Zealanders were uneasy about the economic reforms, but failed to come up with a convincing alternative. Excited NZ investors engaged in a frenzy of speculation, and suffered even more than the rest of the world from the economic crash of 1987.

Recent

The economy remained fairly stagnant until the late 1990s, when a recovery began. In politics, a National (conservative) government replaced Labour in 1990, and introduced proportional representation in 1996. A Labour government (now technically a Labour-led coalition), led by Helen Clark, returned to office in 1999, and was re-elected in 2002 and 2005.

The early 21st century is an interesting time for NZ. Like NZ food and wine, film and literature are flowering as never before, and the new ethnic mix is creating something very special in popular music. There are continuities, however - the pub, the sports ground, the quarter-acre section, the bush, the beach and the bach - and they too are part of the reason people like to come here.