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The human history of New Zealand can be dated back to between 1320 and 1350 CE, when the main settlement period started, after it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture.
c. 1280: Humans first settled New Zealand, according to evidence from the earliest archaeological sites. [5]c. 1300: Most likely period of ongoing early settlement of New Zealand by Polynesian people (the Archaic Moa-Hunter Culture).
The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised, and names and alternative names were formalised in 2013. This set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui , and South Island or Te Waipounamu . [ 26 ]
Kupe was a legendary [1] Polynesian explorer who, according to Māori oral history, was the first person to discover New Zealand. [2] He is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea , and probably spoke a Māori proto-language similar to Cook Islands Māori or Tahitian .
The exclusively natural history of the country ended in about 1300 AD, when humans first settled, and the country's environmental history began. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The period from 1300 AD to today coincides with the extinction of many of New Zealand's unique species that had evolved there.
Michael King wrote in his history of New Zealand, "Despite a plethora of amateur theories about Melanesian, South American, Egyptian, Phoenician and Celtic colonisation of New Zealand, there is not a shred of evidence that the first human settlers were anything other than Polynesian", [4] and Richard Hill, professor of New Zealand Studies at ...
When the British colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 it nominally included a claim to New Zealand as far as 43°39'S (approximately halfway down the South Island). In the years before 1800 there was little interest shown by European powers in New Zealand except for the events of 1793 (see below).
Aotearoa (Māori: [aɔˈtɛaɾɔa]) [1] is the Māori-language name for New Zealand.The name was originally used by Māori in reference only to the North Island, with the whole country being referred to as Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu – where Te Ika-a-Māui means North Island, and Te Waipounamu means South Island. [2]