A brief history of New Zealand

In fact, New Zealand was the last habitable place in the world to be discovered.

Māori settlement

First to arrive were ancestors of Māori. These first settlers probably arrived from Polynesia between 1200 and 1300 AD. They discovered New Zealand as they explored the Pacific, navigating by ocean currents and the winds and stars. In some traditions, the navigator credited with discovering New Zealand is Kupe.

The first Europeans

The first European to arrive in New Zealand was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. That’s how we got the Dutch-sounding name – from a Dutch mapmaker who first called us Nieuw Zeeland.

A surprisingly long time – 127 years – passed before New Zealand was visited by another European, Captain James Cook. He came in 1769 on the first of three voyages.

European whalers and sealers started visiting regularly and then came traders. By the 1830s the British government was being pressured to curb lawlessness in the country and also to pre-empt the French who were considering New Zealand as a potential colony.

Eventually, at Waitangi on 6 February 1840, William Hobson, New Zealand’s first Governor, invited assembled Māori chiefs to sign a treaty with the British Crown. The treaty was taken all round the country, as far south as Foveaux Strait, for signing by local chiefs, and eventually more than 500 signed.

Conflict and growth

Māori came under increasing pressure to sell their land for settlement.

This led to conflict and in the 1860s, war broke out in the North Island. Much Māori land was confiscated or bought during or after 20 years of war.

Meanwhile, the South Island settlements prospered. Sheep farming was established on extensive grasslands, and Canterbury became the country’s wealthiest province. Gold was discovered in Otago in 1861, and then on the West Coast, and helped make Dunedin New Zealand’s largest town.

In the 1870s, the government helped thousands of British people start a new life in New Zealand. Railways were built and towns sprang up or expanded.

In 1882, the first shipment of frozen meat made it successfully to England. Exporting meat and butter and cheese (chilled) became possible and New Zealand became a key supplier for Britain.

With an economy based on agriculture, much of the forest that originally covered New Zealand was cleared for farmland.

Social change and war

In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to give women the vote. State pensions and state housing for workers were also offered first in New Zealand.

We were proud of our loyalty to the British Empire and sent troops to fight for Britain in the South African War in 1899. We were also increasingly conscious of our own nationalism, and declined the chance to join the Australian Federation in 1901. Instead, New Zealand became an independent ‘dominion’ in 1907.

Thousands of New Zealanders served, and died, overseas in the First World War. The 1915 landing at Gallipoli in Turkey is regarded as a coming of age for our country. It established the tradition of ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) – a pride in New Zealand’s military achievement and its special relationship with Australia.

ANZAC Day, commemorating that landing, is a now a public holiday on April 25 each year and is marked with increasingly well-attended ceremonies. To explain the history of the day and its significance to New Zealand today, WW100 has created brief guides, translated in to 3 languages.

New Zealand troops fought overseas again in the Second World War in support of the UK. However, the fall of Singapore shook New Zealanders’ confidence that Britain could guarantee the country’s security.

With the bulk of our forces effectively stranded in Egypt and the Middle East, it was the United States that protected New Zealand against Japan during the war in the Pacific.

The later 20th century

Keeping on side with America encouraged New Zealand to fight both in Korea in the 1950s and – against much popular opposition – and in Vietnam in the 1960s.

Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973. New Zealand had already begun diversifying its export trade, but losing such an important and assured market for our farm products was a blow.

That event has encouraged New Zealand to widen its outlook.

We now sell our farm goods (and many other exports) to a wide range of countries.

Culturally too we have become more diverse. Particularly from the 1980s, a wide range of ethnic groups have been encouraged to settle and New Zealand is now much more multicultural.

According to data from the most recent national Census (2013), 25% of people living in New Zealand are born abroad. 15% are Māori, over 12% are Asian and over 7% are from Pacific Islands nations. Hindi is now the fourth most common language in New Zealand, after English, Māori, and Samoan.