New Zealand History/Maori Lifestyle

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Maori Culture and Lifestyle up to 1840

Once Polynesians had arrived in New Zealand, around the year 1300 AD, they had to dramatically change their lifestyle to suit the new environment.

A model of a Maori Pa

One of the biggest changes the Polynesians had to adapt to was that New Zealand was much larger and had a more temperate climate than the tropical islands they had migrated from. This meant they had to build houses on the ground instead of on stilts to make them warmer, and they had to develop much warmer clothing. The Polynesians became a new group of people who eventually called themselves Maoris.

The first Maori settlements were mostly located around harbors or river mouths where fish and sea birds lived abundantly.

New Zealand, unlike their original islands, was abundant in wild game, so the Maoris switched from agriculture to hunting. One of their biggest sources of food was the Moa, a large flightless bird. The Moas varied in size from the height of a turkey, to 3.7 metres high. Unfortunately, this made them easy targets, and they became extinct due to over-hunting by about 1500. As a result of this, the Maoris switched back to agriculture.

A map of the tribes of New Zealand

Gradually, the Maoris dispersed themselves over New Zealand in different tribes, with different chiefs as leaders. The different tribes became more aggressive however, and inter-tribal warfare became much more frequent over time. This led to the advent of the Pa (a fortified village). An average Pa included ditches, banks and palisades as protection.

New Zealand eventually became divided up by tribal territories which were recognised by other tribes with predominant land features (rivers, mountains, lakes). This culture remained up until the 18th Century, when the Europeans came to New Zealand.

After the first European whalers and traders came to New Zealand, Maori lifestyle in some areas changed dramatically, and never returned to the way it was. One of the most popular commodities the Maoris were interested in trading for were muskets. As Maoris had no long-range weapons, muskets were a valuable asset to tribes. The introduction of muskets made inter-tribal wars far more dangerous, especially if it was a tribe with muskets against a tribe without.

Before the arrival of Missionaries, Maori culture included their own religion, but when Europeans arrived that all changed, and Maoris were gradually converted to Christianity.

A written form of the Maori language was also created for the Maoris by the Missionaries, and gradually the Maori culture became something completely different than before.

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