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According to oral tradition, the heroic explorer Kupe was the first discoverer of New Zealand or “Aotearoa”. In an early European synthesized interpretation of these accounts, around 750 CE he had discovered New Zealand and later, around 1350, one great fleet of settlers set out from Hawaiki in eastern Polynesia. [6]
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 .
Lord Arthur Porritt becomes first New Zealand-born Governor-General. Denny Hulme becomes New Zealand's first (and currently only) Formula 1 World Champion. 1968. 10 April: Inter-island ferry TEV Wahine sinks in severe storm in Wellington Harbour; 51 people killed. 24 May: Three die in Inangahua earthquake.
In 1893, New Zealand was the first nation in the world to grant all women the right to vote [73] and pioneered the adoption of compulsory arbitration between employers and unions in 1894. [75] The Liberals also guaranteed a minimum wage in 1894, a world first. [76]
Abel Tasman's voyage of 1642 was the first known European expedition to reach Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) and New Zealand, and to sight Fiji. On his second voyage of 1644, he also contributed significantly to the mapping of Australia proper, making observations on the land and people of the north coast below New Guinea. [15]
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, with Tasman having four of his men killed and probably killing at least one Māori, without ever landing. [65]
Other books presenting such theories include The Great Divide: The Story of New Zealand & its Treaty (2012) by journalist Ian Wishart, [47] and To the Ends of the Earth by Maxwell C. Hill, Gary Cook and Noel Hilliam, which claims without evidence that New Zealand was discovered by explorers from ancient Egypt and Greece. [48] [49]
English is the predominant language and a de facto official language of New Zealand. Almost the entire population speak it either as native speakers or proficiently as a second language. [1] The New Zealand English dialect is most similar to Australian English in pronunciation, with some key differences.