New Zealand

Overview

The visitor will immediately be struck by the spectacular scenery. It should be no surprise that many films have New Zealand as film locations. The country may not be populated by certain fictional creatures but there certainly will be times that the landscapes suggest that they are merely hiding somewhere. There are two main islands, North Island and South Island as well as many smaller islands in the South Pacific. Some of the natural features that will undoubtedly impress are the Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast, the Craters of the Moon near Taupo and Mount Cook with its own National Park filled with other peaks. In every region the scope for activities is fantastically wide ranging. The mountains, rivers and coastal areas, especially, offer any and every water and winter sport that the visitor could think of. The less dramatic areas also have their share of original possibilities such as Zorbing and three dimensional mazes. There are many who will be unable to resist local delicacies, particularly those of the liquid variety. There are so many options for winery and brewery tours, they could be a theme for a whole trip. Despite continuing tensions of past political decisions concerning the Maori people, the visitor should not find it difficult to gain some sort of insight into the culture of the first settlers of Aotearoa. Care must always be taken to respect local traditions. The more recent...more

History

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 U.K. began the colonization process. Expanding European settlement led to conflict with Maoris most notably in the Maori land wars of the 1860s. British and colonial forces eventually overcame determined Maori resistance. During this period many Maoris died from disease and warfare much of it intertribal. Constitutional government began to develop in the 1850s. In 1867 Maoris won the right to a certain number of reserved seats in parliament. During this period the livestock industry began to expand and...more