New Zealand has a shorter human history than any other country. Experts think the first people came from East Polynesia in about the year 1300.
It was not until 1642 that Europeans knew Aotearoa existed. The first Polynesian settlers discovered New Zealand on planned exploration voyages. They navigated by the stars, ocean currents, and the winds.
Traditions tell of the legendary navigator, Kupe, who discovered Aotearoa New Zealand. Each iwi has its own story about waka arrivals and where they journeyed. People here did not identify themselves by one name until the arrival of Europeans. Then they started using the name Māori, meaning ‘ordinary’.
Hunting, gathering and gardening
Māori were expert hunters and fishers. They wove fishing nets and traps from harakeke and other plants. They shaped fishhooks from bone, shell and wood. Māori also hunted native birds using snares and spears.
Māori created gardens and grew vegetables from Polynesia such as kūmara, hue, taro and yam. They also ate native plants, roots and berries. Kete were used to carry food, which was often stored in a pātaka or in the ground in kōpiha/rua kūmara.
Early people lived in small hunting groups. Seals and moa are the most visible items in archaeological middens, but birds, fish and shellfish were also in the Māori diet. Moa were extinct by about AD 1450. Kuri and kiore were also brought here by waka. Domestic pigs and chickens were either not brought or did not survive the journey.
Population
Māori quickly adapted to life in New Zealand. Their life expectancy was similar to that of Europeans at that time (about 35-40 years of age). Māori population before European contact was maybe 100,000.
An oral culture
Māori passed on rich and detailed history and legends orally. Society was organised around groups that traced their descent from common ancestors. Reciting whakapapa was and still is an important way to communicate knowledge. Whakapapa links people, ancestors, relationships and provides a connection to the land. It shapes a person’s character and informs them about how they should live.
Warfare
The concepts of mana and utu were strong in Māori culture. This led to regular disputes. Conflicts usually only lasted for short periods of time. To protect themselves from an attack Māori would construct pā. Pā were in places easy to defend, on hills or headlands. They were well built with ditches and banks and a palisade on top to protect its people from enemies. Today, many pā sites can be seen in the North Island but are rare in the South Island.
Māori mostly lived in simpler settlements near seasonal food.
Craft and trade
Early Māori were skilled at wood carving, including them in buildings and waka. They shaped stone into tools such as adzes and ornaments. When Europeans arrived Māori traded food and tools for a range of European goods like iron and cloth.
How does Ahuahu Great Mercury Island fit in to the picture?
Ahuahu Great Mercury Island is historically significant because it is one of the first areas of Māori landfall and settlement in Aotearoa.
Captain Cook did not see Ahuahu in 1769 as the Endeavour sailed past but he did visit nearby Mercury Bay. Cook's visit here over 12 days in November 1769 was seen as a friendly encounter. He received the very first pōwhiri for a European in Ngāti Hei’s Wharetaewa pā.
