New Zealand History

New Zealand's first settlers are Eastern Polynesians who came to the nation 700 to 2000 years ago. Eventually, these people developed their own culture known as the Maori.

Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (from which the Australian Tasmanian devil was named) was the first European to have reached New Zealand. Since the Maori killed several of Tasman's crew, the Europeans did not visit the island until British Captain James Cook's voyage in 1768 to 1771.

Cook mapped New Zealand in 1769. Dutch cartographers then refer to the land as "Nova Zeelandia," after Zeeland, a Dutch province. The term first appeared in 1645, although the person who coined it is unknown. James Cook often anglicized the name to "New Zealand."

Since Cook's visit, many European whalers and seal hunters started to visit the island. Trade between these Europeans and the local Maori then developed. Christian missions also began in the island. The trade and the missions ushered the start of Western influence over the Maoris.

When the Europeans started to abuse the Maoris' hospitality, the British government arranged a treaty with the Maoris to put the island under British sovereignty. This treaty is known as the Treaty of Witangi. Eventually, the treaty led to total British rule over the land.

In 1907, the British granted independence over New Zealand, although New Zealand remained economically dependent to UK. Nonetheless, since the invention of refrigerated shipping in the 1890s, New Zealand's economy started to boom through the export of dairy products and meat to Britain.