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NEW ZEALAND

Maori Tourism

MAORI WIKI

Manaki Whenua, Manaki Tangata, Haere Whakamua (Care for the land, Care for people, Go forward)
- Kiwi Notebook

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FLICKR ALBUM: Indigenous

The Maori call New Zealand 'Aotearoa,' the Land of the Long White Cloud. The Maori are descended from people who originally populated the Pacific Islands.

Maori are closely linked in culture and language to the Maori of the Cook Islands, the Maohi of Te Ao Maohi (French Polynesia), the people of Rapanui (known as Easter Island) and the Kanaka Maoli of Hawaii and the Western Polynesian region.

Maori first arrived via waka hourua (voyaging canoes) in several waves between 800-1,300 AD. They settled throughout the land, surviving by farming and hunting. By 1800 there were more than 100,000 Maori in New Zealand.

MATARIKI

Matariki is the name for the Pleiades star cluster or the Seven Sisters. The Maori New Year is marked by the rising of Matariki and coinciding with new moon in late May or June.

TREATY OF WAITANGI

In 1840 Maori chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. This treaty is considered New Zealand's founding document and established British law in New Zealand, while at the same time guaranteeing Maori authority over their land and culture. The treaty is unique in the world as a founding document that is not just about conquest.

Every year on February 6, New Zealand marks the signing of the treaty with celebrations throughout the country and in Waitangi. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934 and has been a public holiday since 1974.