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NEW ZEALAND KEY INFORMATION
Click on one of the links below to find out more about New Zealand
A “brief” history of New Zealand The original inhabitants of New Zealand were the Maori people who arrived here 800-1000 years ago. While the Maori were Polynesian in origin the actual location of their ancestral homeland “Hawaiki” is unknown. At this time New Zealand was devoid of mammals, apart from a few bats, and the first Maori lived off the sea and the abundant bird life. These first inhabitants gave the country the name Aotearoa (the land of the long white cloud). In 1642 Abel Tasman (from Holland) sailed past the west coast of New Zealand. Tasman didn’t stay long as the Maori violently thwarted his attempts to land. He did however name this strange new country New Zealand, after the Dutch province of Zeeland. Next to visit was British explorer Captain James Cook in 1769. He ended up making three voyages to New Zealand and mapped much of the country. Today many locations still have the names given to them by Cook. He also succeeded in making friendly contact with the Maori and traded with them. Before he left Cook claimed the entire land for the British Crown. However at the time Britain was more interested in colonising Australia and so New Zealand’s first European settlers were sealers and whalers. One of the many unfortunate side effects of this early contact between the Maori and Europeans was the introduction of muskets. The Maori traditionally engaged in war over land, or for revenge, and once they got hold of muskets they proceeded to decimate each other. During the early 1800s European settlers began arriving in increasing numbers. The first missionaries arrived in 1814 but these early days of European settlement were generally unruly and relations with the Maori deteriorated. In 1838 Captain William Hobson was dispatched to New Zealand to sort things out. The result of this was the Treaty of Waitangi which was signed by a number of Maori chiefs on 5 February 1840. Under this treaty the Maori recognised the Queen of England as their sovereign and in return were guaranteed ownership of their land. Obviously the Maori didn’t totally understand what they had signed and the Treaty is still a hot topic in New Zealand today. Conflicts developed as Maori chiefs sold land to the Europeans that actually belonged to whole tribes or even other tribes. These pressures escalated in 1860 into wars between the Maori and Europeans (known as the Maori wars). As a result large amounts of Maori land were confiscated and they began to lose the struggle to hold onto their land and culture. Meanwhile European settlement continued throughout the country, with sheep and dairy farming emerging as the dominant industries. New Zealand became a fully independent country in 1947 and the country flourished. With a few ups and downs a long the way things are still running pretty smoothly today.
Key dates in NZ history: · 1867 Maori given the right to vote · 1893 Women given the vote (first country in the world thank you very much) · 1975 a Waitangi Tribunal was set up to investigate the Treaty of Waitangi · 1984 NZ became nuclear free · 1985 French secret agents bombed the Rainbow Warrior (Greenpeace protest ship) in Auckland
CTS travels the length and breadth of the North & South islands of New Zealand, offering buses,
www.citytransfer.co.nz Call 09 444 8264
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New Zealand Tours Travel Information
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/International http://www.newzealand.com/travel/home/the-official-tnz-site-for-destination-nz.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand http://www.shoreshuttles.co.nz/ http://www.aucklandairport.co.nz/
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