Introduction
The Maori are the indigenous people
of New Zealand,
whose traditional way of life is based on cooperation, pride, and respect. Their
name comes from the phrase tangata maori,
which in their language means “ordinary people” (as opposed to the gods).
Another pan-tribal term is tangata whenua,
“people of the land” or “local people.” Whenua,
means both “land” and "placenta," demonstrating the Maori
understanding that they depend on the land which provides for them. The Maori
are a Polynesian people who, while they share characteristics with other Polynesians
have a distinct and beautiful culture which has thrived for hundreds of years,
even in the face of colonialism, urbanization, and globalization.
The 2005 Census found that there were
approximately 635,100 Maori in New
Zealand, which is 14.7% of the population or
about one out of every seven New Zealanders. Significant populations also
reside in Australia, England, the United
States, and Canada,
but the majority of Maori remain in their homeland of New Zealand.
Aotearoa - Land of the long white cloud
The Maori call New Zealand Aotearoa,
“the long white cloud.” The island nation of New
Zealand is located approximately 1,000 miles southeast of
the continent of Australia
in the southwest Pacific ocean. New Zealand consists of two main islands, North Island
and South Island, as well as several smaller
islands. No single location in this country lies more than eighty miles from
the ocean. Thanks to ocean breezes which bring cool air in the summer and warm
air in the winter, New
Zealand has a moist and generally mild
climate; the biome itself is best categorized as temperate rainforest. Many
mountains remain snowcapped throughout the year, but snow is rare in lowland
areas. New Zealand
is renowned for its beautiful scenery, majestic mountains, green hills, and
pristine waters. The landscape of the various islands ranges from hot springs, geysers, and
active volcanoes, to forested mountains, plains and rolling hills, and the flat
lands of the Canterbury Plains. Most of the land consists of hills and
mountains.
Since the islands of New Zealand were isolated from other land masses
for approximately 80 million years, the animal life of New Zealand is unique, albeit
limited in variety. Bats are the only native land mammals indigenous to the
area, while seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whales populate the surrounding Pacific Ocean. When the Maori came to New Zealand they brought with them
some dogs, as well as rats who stowed away on their canoes. (Deer, pigs,
cattle, sheep, possums, and wallabies were later introduced to the islands by
colonizing Europeans.) Hundreds of varieties fish populate the Pacific and the
various lakes and rivers of New
Zealand. Native species of frogs, geckos,
lizards, and skinks, as well as an ancient reptile known as the tuatara, are
found throughout New Zealand;
various species of moths, flies, beetles, and one species of spider are also
considered native to the region. A parrot called the kea, a rare penguin the
Maori called hoiho, various species of pigeons, and the famous flightless kiwis
are New Zealand's
main native bird life.
Prior to the arrival of the
Europeans, the Maori thrived in virtually all areas of New Zealand. (The Chatham
Islands were inhabited by the Moriori, a similar but distinct
cultural group.) They took advantage of the various trees and ferns available
to them for food, firewood, building material, and other uses, as well as the
unique animal life, fertile soil, and mild climate.
Whakahekanga - Origins
The Maori say that their ancestors
navigated their waka, huge oceangoing canoes, from the mystical homeland of
Hawaiki to the land
of Aotearoa. Different
tribes trace their whakapapa or ancestry through different waka. In some
versions one of the waka sank, and the ancestor Paikea, the sole survivor, rode
the rest of the way on the back of a whale who was sent by the ancestors to
help him.
Non-Maori scientists also believe
that the Maori came to New
Zealand as part of a great Polynesian
nautical migration. It is widely believed that Austronesian people who
originated in southeast Asia began an unprecedented sea-borne expansion around
5000 BCE, established settlements in Melanesia circa 2000 BCE, and made it to Tonga and Samoa
by 1200 BCE. The Polynesian language is thought to have largely developed in Tonga.
Polynesian peoples eventually made their way to Rapanui (Eastern Island) around
400 CE, Tahiti in 500 CE, and Hawaii 500,
and began settling in New Zealand somewhere between 750
and 1600 CE. (Most estimates putting their arrival around 1000 CE.) There may
have been a secondary Marquesan influx, but this matter is still debated.
Archaeologists as well as linguistic and physical anthropologists generally
agree that the Maori were probably the first human settlers in New Zealand.
Te Reo - Maori language
The Maori speak the Maori language, which
they call Te Reo Maori or simply Te Reo; they consider it sacred because they
believe the gods gave it to their ancestors. It is a Polynesian language of the
Tahitic subgroup. While Te Reo Maori is not always mutually intelligible with
other Polynesian languages, it is closely related. The Maori word for
"love," for example, is aroha,
a cognate of the familiar Hawaiian aloha. (The Maori informal greeting is “Kia
ora!”-- literally “be healthy.”) When Captain James Cook journeyed to New Zealand
in the late eighteenth century, he used a Tahitian interpreter to communicate
with the native Maori. The southern Maori dialect differs slightly from
standard Maori in pronunciation, and there are some regional variations among
different iwi, but any fluent Maori
speaker can understand all Maori dialects. Prior to the arrival of the
Europeans, the Maori had no system of writing; it was not needed due to the
rich Maori oral tradition.
Back to Index
Next section
