Conventional wisdom tells us that in the summer of 1642, a Dutch sea captain called Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered what we now know to be 'New Zealand' and so began an enlightened period of nation building, culminating in indepedence from the British Empire in 1907.
The existence of the Maori peoples who allegedly migrated to 'Aotearoa' from the Polynesian Islands in the tenth century must therefore be a figment of the fevered imagination of some uppity left wing trouble maker.
However, in the event that their presence in New Zealand, 650 years before its alleged discovery, has any basis in fact, their awkwardly persistent claim to sovereignty can easily be disregarded. This is by virtue of the entirely legal and ethical suppression of their claims to ownership, under the terms of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi between 'The Maori People' and The British Crown, which incidentally, most Maori Chiefs failed to sign.
Failing that, the supply by European arms dealers, of modern armaments to competing Maori tribes during the 18th century Musket Wars, was as likely to get the job done, as any amount of murder and brutalisation that European settlers may have perpetrated.
And on a lighter note - it's Valentines Day!
In sentimental recognition that this day represents a large cash injection to the international greetings card industry, we got all soppy and climbed a waterfall at Tawhii, lost some crockery and did some laundry at Taupo, watched a Forest Gump look-a-like run backwards down a long road to nowhere in Okahune and learned about just a few high lights from New Zealand's surprising list of ground breaking achievements, in the towns we passed through today.
Okahune grows more carrots, Turangi lands more fresh water trout and Te Kuiti shears more sheep than any other town in the world.
As a country, it was the first to:
- give women the vote;
- implement a modern system of social security;
- elect a women Mayor;
- light its streets with electricity;
- introduce an 8 hour working day;
- elect a trans gender MP;
- designate land as National Park.
Its citizens were the first to;
- scale Everest;
- succeed in manned flight (6 months before the Wright brothers);
- set foot in Antarctica.
And New Zealand has more than its fair share of volcanoes. Auckland alone has 50, but they retain Maori names, particularly in the Wakkapakka district that we were passing through. Ruaepa erupted in 1954 and 1995, Tongariro in 1926 and Nganruhoe smokes menacingly from time to time.
It is probably a sad metaphor that whilst the Maori culture is so closely associated with such a destructive force, it is presently regarded as so impotent that tourists trample all over it and fearlessly, Auckland stands with in its ring of fire.
Some day Mountain or Maori may shake it up a bit.
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| The Treaty of Waitangi |
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| Mount Doom or Ruaepa in Lord of The Rings Country |
Conventional wisdom tells us that in the summer of 1642, a Dutch sea captain called Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered what we now know to be 'New Zealand' and so began an enlightened period of nation building, culminating in indepedence from the British Empire in 1907.
The existence of the Maori peoples who allegedly migrated to 'Aotearoa' from the Polynesian Islands in the tenth century must therefore be a figment of the fevered imagination of some uppity left wing trouble maker.
However, in the event that their presence in New Zealand, 650 years before its alleged discovery, has any basis in fact, their awkwardly persistent claim to sovereignty can easily be disregarded. This is by virtue of the entirely legal and ethical suppression of their claims to ownership, under the terms of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi between 'The Maori People' and The British Crown, which incidentally, most Maori Chiefs failed to sign.
Failing that, the supply by European arms dealers, of modern armaments to competing Maori tribes during the 18th century Musket Wars, was as likely to get the job done, as any amount of murder and brutalisation that European settlers may have perpetrated.
And on a lighter note - it's Valentines Day!
In sentimental recognition that this day represents a large cash injection to the international greetings card industry, we got all soppy and climbed a waterfall at Tawhii, lost some crockery and did some laundry at Taupo, watched a Forest Gump look-a-like run backwards down a long road to nowhere in Okahune and learned about just a few high lights from New Zealand's surprising list of ground breaking achievements, in the towns we passed through today.
Okahune grows more carrots, Turangi lands more fresh water trout and Te Kuiti shears more sheep than any other town in the world.
As a country, it was the first to:
- give women the vote;
- implement a modern system of social security;
- elect a women Mayor;
- light its streets with electricity;
- introduce an 8 hour working day;
- elect a trans gender MP;
- designate land as National Park.
Its citizens were the first to;
- scale Everest;
- succeed in manned flight (6 months before the Wright brothers);
- set foot in Antarctica.
And New Zealand has more than its fair share of volcanoes. Auckland alone has 50, but they retain Maori names, particularly in the Wakkapakka district that we were passing through. Ruaepa erupted in 1954 and 1995, Tongariro in 1926 and Nganruhoe smokes menacingly from time to time.
It is probably a sad metaphor that whilst the Maori culture is so closely associated with such a destructive force, it is presently regarded as so impotent that tourists trample all over it and fearlessly, Auckland stands with in its ring of fire.
Some day Mountain or Maori may shake it up a bit.
Whilst your post is about New Zealand, and so what I am about to recommend is only barely related, when you get back, you should read 'English Passengers' by Matthew Kneale. It is about Tasmania, and the clash of cultures in the nineteenth century, between a group of English 'tourists', the Aborigines, the ex-pat community and the sailors who take the English Passengers there. This makes it sound very dry, but it is an excellent book, and deals brilliantly with the suppression and extermination of the Tasmanian Aborigines.
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