Māori people

Hōniana Te Puni-kōkopu [en], a Māori chief of the 19th-century

The Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. They were the first people to live in the islands.

The Polynesian ancestors of the Māori came to New Zealand between 800 and 1300 AD. There are many theories about where the Maori came from. They arrived from somewhere in tropical Polynesia, either from the Cook Islands or the Society Islands. There is also a widely-recognised theory that the Māori people originated from Vanuatu.^[1]

Before Europeans came to New Zealand, the Māori did not need a name for themselves as a people. After Europeans came to New Zealand, the indigenous people called themselves Māori. Māori means "normal" or "ordinary". They called other people, especially those who came from Britain, “Pākehā”, meaning "white person". Today, in New Zealand English "Pākehā" is often used as a name for New Zealand Europeans.

Today, over 700,000 Māori people^[2] live in New Zealand. They are an important part of the country's culture. This is why they have received special rights from the Government of New Zealand. Their native language, the Māori language, is an official language of the country along with English.

Māori People Media

The Māori settlement of New Zealand represents an end-point of a long chain of island-hopping voyages in the South Pacific.
Early Archaic period objects from the Wairau Bar archaeological site, on display at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch
Model of a pā (hillfort) built on a headland. Pā proliferated as competition and warfare increased among a growing population.
A drawing from Abel Tasman's travel journal of the first encounter between Europeans and Māori, in 1642
Depiction of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, bringing New Zealand and the Māori into the British Empire
Members of the 28th (Māori) Battalion performing a haka, Egypt (July 1941)
Whina Cooper leading the Māori Land March in 1975, seeking redress for historical grievances
Māori in New Zealand in 2018
Māori New Zealanders population pyramid in 2018
Wharenui (meeting house) at Ōhinemutu village, Rotorua (tekoteko on the top)