Te taenga mai o Tauiwi ki Aotearoa

Kāore a Tauiwi i mōhio ki tēnei whenua, ki a Aotearoa, i mua i te taenga mai o Tahimana (Abel Tasman) i te tau 1642. I tae mai ai a Kāpene Kuki (Captain James Cook) ki Aotearoa i te tau 1769 hei wāhanga o te hekenga mai o ngā taua moana o te Royal Navy. He mea taunaki tērā hekenga mai e te Royal Society of London. Nāna te nui o te takutai moana o Aotearoa i whakamahere.

TĀHIMANA

Ko te kitenga tuatahi o te whenua nei, o Aotearoa, e tauiwi i te tau 1642. Nā Tāhimana, he tangata nō te whenua e kīia nei ko Hōrana. Ka whānau mai ia i Hōrana, ka tapaina ki te ingoa Abel Janszoon Tasman, ā, he mātanga whakatere moana ia. I wehe atu a Tāhimana me tōna 110 kaumoana tāne mā runga i ngā waka e rua a Heemskerck me Zeehaen i Jakarta i te Ākuhata o te tau 1642. Ko te whāinga ia o te haere, ko te rapu rawa me te whenua e pai ana kia nōhia. Ka kitea te whenua e kīia nei ko Tasmania (te ingoa e mōhiotia ana i ēnei rangi nei) i te 24 o Noema. Ka tapaina taua whenua ki te ingoa Van Diemen’s Land hei whakamana i te kāwana tianara o te Dutch East Indies o taua wā rā, i a Anthony van Diemen.

Mai i reira ka tere atu a Tāhimana ki te rāwhiti, ā, ko ia te tuatahi ki te whakawhiti i te moana e mōhio whānuitia ana ko Te Tai-o-Rehua (Tasman Sea). I te 13 o Tīhema i te tau 1642 ka kitea e te tatimana tētahi ‘whenua nui, whenua teitei’ e whakapaetia ana ko Te Tiritiri-o-te-moana. I tana haere i te takutai, ka tapaina e ia ngā kūrae whenua e rua ko Cape Foulwind me Cape Farewell.

I te 18 o Tīhema ka tau tōna waka ki tētahi whanga e tata ana ki Onetahua. I tukia tētahi o ngā waka tīwae o Tāhimana e tētahi waka nō te iwi Māori o reira. E ai te kōrero i patua te tokowhā o tauiwi e Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri i runga i tō rātou pōhehe i tae hoariri atu ngā tauhou ki a rātou, i runga hoki i te pūhia o tētahi Māori e ngā Tatimana hei urupare i te patunga. I tapaina e Tāhimana ngā takiwā i runga i ngā āhuatanga i puta i aua takiwā. Nā reira i tapaina tēnei wāhi ko Murderers Bay e mōhio whānuitia ana i nāianei ko Te Tai Tapu.

Ahakoa te āhuatanga i puta, ka whakamīharo a Tāhimana ki tēnei whenua hou katoa ki a ia. Nāna anō te kī i āna tuhinga, ‘he whenua taurikura’ tēnei whenua. I te kino o te huarere, i te korenga hoki o te kai ka mate a Tāhimana ki te wehe wawe atu i tēnei whenua i te Hanuere o te tau 1643. Nāna, nā Tāhimana, i para i te huarahi mā tauiwi ki te torotoro haere i ngā moana o te tonga.

Ko Francis Drake te tangata tuatahi nō Ingarangi i whakatere waka ki Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa i ngā tau 1577–1580 i tana haere mā te uru ki te rāwhiti o te ao. Nō muri mai ka kaha ake te aro o ngā tāngata o Ingarangi ki Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa i runga i ngā tohe i puta i waenganui i a rātou ko ngā tāngata o Peina, o Hōrana, o Wīwī hoki. Ko Samuel Wallis te tauiwi tuatahi ki te kite i te whenua o Tahiti i te tau 1767. Ka hoki atu a Wallis ki Ingarangi, ka tae atu kua tīmata kē ngā mahi whakariterite i tētahi tira haere ki Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.

I hiahia te British Royal Society ki te mātai i te whakawhitinga o te aorangi Tāwera i te aroaro o Tama-nui-te-rā i Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Mā tēnā mātaitanga ka āhei ai te tawhiti o te Ao i Tāwera, i te rā hoki te tātai kia tika. I te hoki o Wallis me āna kōrero mō tāna i kite ai i te whenua o Tahiti ka kōkiritia he tira haere ki taua whenua ki te mātai i te whakawhitinga, ā, i ārahina taua tira e Rūtene James Cook.

Nō muri mai i te kitenga o te whakawhitinga o Tāwera ka tohutohungia a Kāpene Kuki kia toro haere i Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa ki te rapu i tētahi whenua i nui te kōrerotia, i Terra Australis. I te korenga o te kitenga o tēnei whenua ka tere atu rātou ki Aotearoa me tētahi tohunga nō Tahiti, ko Tupaia tōna ingoa. He mea tono ia kia tautoko i te haere i runga i tana matatau ki ngā matawhenua o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. 

I whānau mai a Tupaia i tētahi kāwai rangatira i Rangiātea i te takiwā o te tau 1724. E ai ki te kōrero he tāne tino tāroaroa a ia, he purotu, he pakari, he atamai hoki. I tohua ia hei pia ki Taputapuātea. Ka tohia hei tohunga, ko tana pūkenga matua ko te whakatere waka. Ka whakangungua hoki hei ariki ki ngā pūkenga whakangahau, ā, ka puta hei tohunga whakatere waka.

Ko tā Kāpene Kuki he toro haere kia ngata ai ōna hiahia pūtaiao heoi anō, ko tā ōna kaitaunaki Ingarihi he whakawhānui i ana mahi tauhokohoko ka mutu tōna rohe. I pai tā Kāpene Kuki whakauru kōrero ki ana pūrongo mō ngā rawa o ngā whenua i takahia me te pai hoki o aua whenua kia nōhia e ngā tāngata o Piritana.