New Zealand
Most of the 4 million New Zealanders are of British origin. About
15% claim descent from the indigenous Maori population, which is of
Polynesian origin. Nearly 76% of the people, including a large
majority of Maori, live on the North Island. In addition, 265,974
Pacific peoples live in New Zealand. During the late 1870s, natural
increase permanently replaced immigration as the chief contributor
to population growth and accounted for more than 75% of population
growth in the 20th century. Nearly 85% of New Zealand's population
lives in urban areas (with almost one-third in Auckland alone),
where the service and manufacturing industries are growing rapidly.
New Zealanders colloquially refer to themselves as "Kiwis," after
the country's native bird. |
|
Archaeological evidence indicates that New Zealand was populated by
fishing and hunting people of East Polynesian ancestry perhaps 1,000
years before Europeans arrived. Known to some scholars as the
Moa-hunters, they may have merged with later waves of Polynesians
who, according to Maori tradition, arrived between 952 and 1150.
Some of the Maoris called their new homeland "Aotearoa," usually
translated as "land of the long white cloud."
In 1642, Abel Tasman, a Dutch navigator, made the first recorded
European sighting of New Zealand and sketched sections of the two
main islands' west coasts. English Captain James Cook thoroughly
explored the coastline during three South Pacific voyages beginning
in 1769. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, lumbering, seal
hunting, and whaling attracted a few European settlers to New
Zealand. In 1840, the United Kingdom established British sovereignty
through the Treaty of Waitangi signed that year with Maori chiefs.
In the same year, selected groups from the United Kingdom began the
colonization process. Expanding European settlement led to conflict
with Maori, most notably in the Maori land wars of the 1860s.
British and colonial forces eventually overcame determined Maori
resistance. During this period, many Maori died from disease and
warfare, much of it intertribal.
Constitutional government began to develop in the 1850s. In 1867,
the Maori won the right to a certain number of reserved seats in
parliament. During this period, the livestock industry began to
expand, and the foundations of New Zealand's modern economy took
shape. By the end of the 19th century, improved transportation
facilities made possible a great overseas trade in wool, meat, and
dairy products.
By the 1890s, parliamentary government along democratic lines was
well-established, and New Zealand's social institutions assumed
their present form. Women received the right to vote in national
elections in 1893. The turn of the century brought sweeping social
reforms that built the foundation for New Zealand's version of the
welfare state.
The Maori gradually recovered from population decline and, through
interaction and intermarriage with settlers and missionaries,
adopted much of European culture. In recent decades, Maori have
become increasingly urbanized and have become more politically
active and culturally assertive.
New Zealand was declared a dominion by a royal proclamation in 1907.
It achieved full internal and external autonomy by the Statute of
Westminster Adoption Act in 1947, although this merely formalized a
situation that had existed for many years. |
|
