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A Reemerging People: The Maoris
| Article
# : |
12621 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1987 |
4,945 Words |
| Author
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Erika Fabian
Erika Fabian is a well-published freelance writer,
playwright, and photographer and is co-director of PSI
(Photographic Society International). |
When the white traders of Europe arrived in New Zealand in the early 1800s, they encountered a people calling themselves the Maoris. Translated, Maori means "the norm." After all, the Maoris were the norm - they had been living on the islands of the "Long White Cloud" for thirty generations before the white men arrived, whom they called Pakeha (stranger).
The Maoris of old had no written records, but much of their history has been preserved through a rich tradition of stories, songs, chants, religion, and art. According to their lore, the Maoris came to New Zealand from other islands in the Pacific in several successive waves of migration. Kupe the Navigator and Ngahue led the first of these, sailing from the Society Islands in two canoes, the Matahoura and the Tawiri-rangi. While in pursuit of a giant octopus, they landed on the North Island of New Zealand. They called the new land Aotea Roa (Long White Cloud). New Zealand thus became known as "The Land of the Long White Cloud." Legend has it that when they discovered New Zealand, it was not inhabited, so the explorers returned to Eastern Polynesia.
The next voyage to New Zealand, tradition tells us, came eight generations after Kupe, led by chief Toi, who sailed from Hawaiki. Some think Hawaiki is a mythical name, while other speculates it is a lost place name, possibly the Cook Islands, the Society Islands, or even Tahiti. On arriving in New Zealand, Toi found the North Island inhabited by the Tangata Whenua - a people with "dark skin, flat noses, bushy hair, and restless eyes." It is surmised that these inhabitants came in crews on three canoes that drifted to these parts in an earlier Melanesian migration.
After Toi, a second group led by Chief Whatonga is believed to have settled the island of Rarotonga, some five hundred leagues distance from Toi, and joined his group at the Bay of Plenty on the North Island. The new arrivals married Tangata Whenua women and settled down.
The last and largest group arrived in New Zealand in seven large Polynesian canoes. The double canoe could attain a length of 150 feet with one or more masts of sails (a specimen in the Auckland museum of a typical war canoe is 83 feet long with a 7-foot beam). A huge lateen sail, quite cumbersome to maneuver, caught the trade winds. Outrigger-type crafts were also employed and probably were part of the fleet that reached New Zealand because they were more manageable in rough weather. Without compass or charts, these intrepid voyagers crossed the vast seas, steering their long, open
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