New Zealand Travel Guide

The culture of New Zealand has developed from the nation's distinct demographics, its unique geography and ecology, and Māori and colonial history. Māori voyagers reached the islands of New Zealand some time before 1300, though exact dates are uncertain. Over the ensuing centuries of Māori expansion and settlement, Māori culture diverged from its Polynesian roots. Māori established separate tribes, built fortified villages (Pā), hunted and fished, traded commodities, developed agriculture, arts and weaponry, and kept a detailed oral history. Regular European contact began approximately 200 years ago, and British immigration proceeded rapidly during the nineteenth century. There can be marked differences between Maori and NZ European (Pakeha) societies...