The Maoris and their history

The Maoris are the indigenous people of New Zealand who arrived in New Zealand in  14^th century from parts of Polynesia (Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii). They called their new land Aotearoa. By mid 1600, hordes of European settlers started arriving. In 1840, the Maoris sought help from the British to protect themselves from the French. A treaty was signed between the British Crown and various Maori chiefs discussing sovereignty and land ownership. The fun (or not so funny for the Maoris) fact is that there were two copies of the treaty, one in English and one in Maori and the two differed in meaning significantly. The Maoris felt cheated, tensions between them and the Crown rose and eventually led to the New Zealand Wars. By 1850, the Maoris had lost control of most of the land.

Today the Maori population stands at around 15% and is concentrated mostly in the north island.