Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori are descended from East Polynesian settlers who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed a distinct culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. In the 15th century some of them moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori.
Early contact between Māori and Europeans, starting in the 18th century, ranged from beneficial trade to lethal violence; Māori actively adopted many technologies from the newcomers. With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the two cultures coexisted for a generation. Rising tensions over disputed land sales led to conflict in the 1860s, and subsequent land confiscations, which Māori resisted fiercely. After the Treaty was declared a legal nullity in 1877, Māori were forced to assimilate into many aspects of Western culture. Social upheaval and epidemics of introduced disease took a devastating toll on the Māori population, which fell dramatically, but began to recover by the beginning of the 20th century. The March 2023 New Zealand census gives the number of people of Māori descent as 978,246 (19.6% of the total population), up from 18.5% in 2018. Of those identifying as Māori at the 2023 census, 366,015 people (41.2%) identified as of sole Māori ethnicity while 409,401 people (46.1%) identified as of both European and Māori ethnicity.
Efforts have been made, centring on the Treaty of Waitangi, to increase the standing of Māori in wider New Zealand society and achieve social justice. Traditional Māori culture has enjoyed a significant revival, which was further bolstered by a Māori protest movement that emerged in the 1960s. However, disproportionate numbers of Māori face significant economic and social obstacles, and generally have lower life expectancies and incomes than other New Zealand ethnic groups. They suffer higher levels of crime, health problems, imprisonment, poverty, and educational under-achievement. A number of socio-economic initiatives have been instigated with the aim of "closing the gaps" between Māori and other New Zealanders. Political and economic redress for historical grievances is also ongoing (see Treaty of Waitangi claims and settlements).
Māori are the second-largest ethnic group in New Zealand, after European New Zealanders (commonly known by the Māori name Pākehā). In addition, more than 170,000 Māori live in Australia. The Māori language is spoken to some extent by about a fifth of all Māori, representing three per cent of the total population. Māori are active in all spheres of New Zealand culture and society, with independent representation in areas such as media, politics, and sport.
Naming and identification In the Māori language, the word means 'normal', 'natural', or 'ordinary'. In legends and oral traditions, the word distinguished ordinary mortal human beings——from deities and spirits (). Likewise, denotes 'fresh water', as opposed to salt water. There are cognate words in most Polynesian languages, all deriving from Proto-Polynesian , which has the reconstructed meaning 'true, real, genuine'.
Early visitors from Europe to New Zealand generally referred to the indigenous inhabitants as "New Zealanders" or as "natives". Māori used the term to describe themselves in a pan-tribal sense. Māori people often use the term (literal meaning, "people of the land") to identify in a way that expresses their relationship with a particular area of land; a tribe may be the in one area, but not in another. The term can also refer to the Māori people as a whole in relation to New Zealand () as a whole.
The official definition of Māori for electoral purposes has changed over time. Before 1974, the government required documented ancestry to determine the status of "a Māori person" and only those with at least 50% Māori ancestry were allowed to choose which seats they wished to vote in. The Māori Affairs Amendment Act 1974 changed this, allowing individuals to self-identify as to their cultural identity. Until 1986, the census required at least 50 per cent Māori ancestry to claim Māori affiliation. Currently, in most contexts, authorities require some documentation of ancestry or continuing cultural connection (such as acceptance by others as being of the people); however, there is no minimum ancestry requirement.McIntosh (2005), p. 45
History
Origins in Polynesia
No credible evidence exists of pre-Māori settlement of New Zealand. Compelling evidence from archaeology, linguistics, and physical anthropology indicates that the first settlers migrated from Polynesia and became the Māori. Evidence indicates that their ancestry (as part of the larger group of Austronesian peoples) stretches back 5,000 years, to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Polynesian people settled a large area encompassing Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, Hawaiʻi, Easter Island () – and finally New Zealand.
The date of first arrival and settlement is a matter of debate. Radiocarbon dating of rat bones and rat-gnawed seeds and woody seed cases has indicated that Polynesian rats, and therefore humans, arrived circa 1280 AD. A 2022 study using radiocarbon technology found that settlement probably occurred in the North Island between 1250 and 1275. Confirmed archaeological evidence lags this though, as no human remains, artefacts or structures are confidently dated to earlier than an eruption of Mount Tarawera around 1314. A consideration of archaeological and genetic evidence hypothesised that, regardless of whether or not some settlers arrived earlier, the main settlement period was in the first half of the 14th century. This broadly aligns with analyses from Māori oral traditions, which describe the arrival of ancestors in large ocean-going canoes () as a planned migration .
There is definitive archaeological evidence of brief settlement as far south as Enderby Island, but there is no evidence of travel further south into Antarctic waters despite occasional speculation.
Early history
The earliest period of Māori settlement, which has been called the "Colonisation phase", "East Polynesian" phase, the "Archaic" period, and the "Moahunter" period, dates from the time of arrival to . The early Māori diet included an abundance of moa and other large birds and fur seals that had never been hunted before. This Archaic period is known for its distinctive "reel necklaces","Ngā Kākano", Te Papa and also remarkable for the lack of weapons and fortifications typical of the later "Classic" Māori. The best-known and most extensively studied Archaic site, at Wairau Bar in the South Island, shows evidence of occupation from the early 13th century to the early 15th century. It is the only known New Zealand archaeological site containing the bones of people who were born elsewhere.
Factors that operated in the transition to the Classic period (the culture at the time of European contact) include a significantly cooler period from 1500, and the extinction of the moa and of other food species.
The Classic period is characterised by finely made (greenstone) weapons and ornaments, elaborately carved war canoes and (meeting houses).Neich Roger, 2001. Carved Histories: Rotorua Ngati Tarawhai Woodcarving. Auckland: Auckland University Press, pp. 48–49. Māori lived in autonomous settlements in extended hapū groups descended from common iwi ancestors. The settlements had farmed areas and food sources for hunting, fishing and gathering. Fortified pā were built at strategic locations due to occasional warfare over wrongdoings or resources; this practice varied over different locations throughout New Zealand, with more populations in the far north. There is a stereotype that Māori were 'natural warriors'; however, warfare and associated practices like cannibalism were not a dominant part of Māori culture.
Around the 15th century, a group of Polynesians migrated from New Zealand to the Chatham Islands and developed into a people known as the Moriori, with pacifism a key part of their culture.
Contact with Europeans
The first European explorers of New Zealand were Abel Tasman, who arrived in 1642, Captain James Cook, in 1769, and Marion du Fresne in 1772. Initial contact between Māori and Europeans proved problematic and sometimes fatal. Tasman left after only two days after four of his men and at least one Māori had been killed, apparently due to a misunderstanding. Cook's men shot at least eight Māori within three days of his first landing, although he later had good relations with Māori. Three years later, after a promising start, du Fresne and 26 men of his crew were killed. From the 1780s, Māori also increasingly encountered European and American sealers, whalers and Christian missionaries. Relations were mostly peaceful, although marred by several further violent incidents, the worst of which was the Boyd massacre in 1807 and subsequent revenge attacks.Ingram, C. W. N. (1984). New Zealand Shipwrecks 1975–1982. Auckland: New Zealand Consolidated Press; pp 3–6, 9, 12.
European settlement in New Zealand began in the early 19th century, leading to an extensive sharing of culture and ideas. Many Māori valued Europeans, whom they called "", as a means to acquire Western knowledge and technology. Māori quickly adopted writing as a means of sharing ideas, and many of their oral stories and poems were converted to the written form. The introduction of the potato revolutionised agriculture, and the acquisition of muskets by Māori led to a period of particularly bloody intertribal warfare known as the Musket Wars, in which many groups were decimated and others driven from their traditional territory. The pacifist Moriori in the Chatham Islands similarly suffered massacre and subjugation in an invasion by some Taranaki . At the same time, Māori suffered high mortality rates from Eurasian infectious diseases, such as influenza, smallpox and measles, which killed an estimated 10 to 50 per cent of Māori.
By 1839, estimates placed the number of Europeans living in New Zealand as high as 2,000, and the British Crown acceded to repeated requests from missionaries and some Māori chiefs () to intervene. The British government sent Royal Navy Captain William Hobson to negotiate a treaty between the British Crown and Māori, which became known as the Treaty of Waitangi. In 1840, starting on 6 February at Waitangi and by the end of the year at about 50 other events around the country, this treaty was signed by the Crown and over 500 rangatira Māori. The Treaty gave Māori the rights of British subjects and guaranteed Māori property rights and tribal autonomy, in return for accepting British sovereignty and the annexation of New Zealand as a colony in the British Empire. However, disputes continue over aspects of the Treaty of Waitangi, including wording differences in the two versions (in English and Māori), as well as misunderstandings of different cultural concepts; notably, the Māori version did not cede sovereignty to the British Crown. In an 1877 court case the Treaty was declared a "simple nullity" on the grounds that the signatories had been "primitive barbarians".