Ruru
Ruru
He taonga tenei |
E hara i te mea
E hara i te mea It is not a new thing
No naianei te aroha now that is love
No nga tupuna Comes from the ancestors
Tuku iho tuku iho Handed down through the passages of time
* *
Te whenua te whenua The land, the land
Te oranga mo te iwi is the life for the people
No nga tupuna Comes from the ancestors
Tuku iho tuku iho Handed down through the passages of time
* *
Whakapono tumanako Faith and hope
Te aroha ki te iwi Love to the people
No nga tupuna Comes from the ancestors
Tuku iho tuku iho Handed down through the passages of time
He hei matau tenei |
The Early History
| Tangata Whenua |
| The local people |
|
|
| Maori ancestry may to be
traced back to a people who lived in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the east
of New Guinea, approximately 3500 years ago. These inhabitants had a Lapita
culture, of which earthenware pots, distinctive and highly coloured, were
a characteristic. This pottery was given the name of Lapita Ware, after
an archaeological site in New Caledonia.
The Lapita pottery first appeared around the mid-second millennium in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the very east of Papua, New Guinea. It can be traced through Melanesia to New Caledonia and then east to Samoa. It was in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga that the Lapita potters became the founding population. The Lapita pot Polynesians settled in various island groups around the area, including Samoa and Tonga, and it was here that the typically Polynesian culture was developed. In the islands of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, many features of the Polynesian culture developed during the first millennium BC. However, the use of pottery appeared to have disappeared by the time that New Zealand was discovered. Other crafts took over, such as the stone fabricated adzes, and fish hooks, and these can be traced to New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia. It is thought that the distinctive Polynesian feature may have either evolved from the Melanesian peoples of the Bismarck area, or from another area further west. Maori prehistory itself covers a period of less than 1 000 years. from the time of Polynesian arrival in New Zealand until first contact with Europeans. top The exact date of the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand is not known, but it is generally thought to be around 950 -1130 AD. According to Maori oral history their Polynesian ancestors migrated from an area named Hawaiiki, known as the ancestral homeland, and generally considered as being somewhere in Eastern Polynesia. Some historians trace the early Polynesian settlers of New Zealand as migrating from today's China, making the long voyage travelling via Taiwan, through the South Pacific, and on to Aotearoa (New Zealand). The anthropologist Thor Heydal claims that the Polynesians arrived in the Pacific from America, rather than from the East, as other scholars claim. It is difficult to locate the exact reason for this migration to Aotearoa, but the date of arrival can be considered a reasonable estimation. The new arrivals settled mainly around the coast of New Zealand, and especially the east coast, which was more hospitable and temperate in climate. The settlers introduced animals such as the dog and the small Polynesian rat. At this time, New Zealand was home to many flightless birds, including the Moa. This bird was, as a consequent, hunted extensively for its meat, large eggs, and feathers. The Moa bones, being strong, were used to fabricate artefacts.
top
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The new settlers used their excellent skills
for adze fabrication, having
discovered large stone resources further inland within New Zealand.
Woodworking adzes were the main tool used by early Maori.
These were "core tools", and were made by hitting one piece of stone
with another,
in order to remove chips and flakes. The core remaining after this process
became the tool.
The "flake tool" was used to remove chips or flakes from the core tool,
and
the flake tool was commonly used as a knife.
The Polynesians introduced the sweet potato (kumara), a quick maturing
crop, and which was able to be cultivated particularly well in the
warmer northern region of New Zealand. The kumara (Ipomoea batatas)
is a sweet potato of tropical origin, a member of the plant family "Convolvulaceae".
This was the major cultivated crop of the pre-European Maori.
Although Maori tradition claims the New Zealand kumara as originating
from
Hawaiiki, other theories consider it was the 19th century sealers and
whalers who
introduced the kumara. It is quite likely that
the kumara has it's origins in South America.
The kumara, staple diet of the Maori, were
stored in deep cool pits on sloping hillsides.
The pits had doorways, and the kumara were stacked on platforms within
the pit
. Extra food was stored in a "pataka" (storehouse), generally decorated
with carvings
which made reference to fertility, or to a generous food supply.
The pataka was mounted on piles, usually several feet from the
ground, and situated within the marae area. Within the pataka
were stocked preserved goods - dried fish, flesh, and also weapons or
mats.
It symbolised the rich resources of the tribal chief.
Other crops imported by the Polynesians were the taro, yam and also
the paper
mulberry, which was used to make bark cloth.
For the tribes further south, living in a much cooler climate and where
crops were
less easily cultivated, hunting the Moa and
the seal remained the main activities for food resources.
When the Moa and other species of flightless birds eventually
became extinct a few centuries later, fish and shellfish become the
staple diet of the Maori, in supplement to the kumara.
Seals and whales were also hunted.
Fishing was a very important economic activity, and fishing
rights still take extreme importance today.
With diminishing resources in other areas, the major food resources
now became the Weka (flightless aquatic bird), the Barracouta
(fish abundant in the southern hemisphere and related to
the great mackerel family), eels, and the Titi (muttonbird).
The roots of the Ti kouka (cabbage tree) were baked, producing a sweet sugary substance.
Food was preserved in various ways. The Barracouta, and other fish,
would be baked and then hung on very high poles, in order to
dry out and then preserved for the winter months.
Birds were dried and then packed in fat within large bags. The bird
flesh was able to be preserved for up to several years by this method.
Before the advent of the "Pa" (a fortified
village), the early settlers lived
in small undefended settlements known as "kainga". These were mainly
established in sheltered coastal locations, often near to harbours or estuaries.
The kainga consisted of one or more inhabitations and included structures
for storing food and an area for communal food preparation.
Food was cooked in the ground, on hot stones, a typically Polynesian
feature.
The food would be either cooked out in the open, or under a sheltered
area
which would be separate from the main dwelling house.
Kainga house plans have been located in New Zealand on sites at Palliser
Bay,
in the North Island, and have been dated back to the 12th, 15th and 16th centuries.
The most famous of these sites is situated at Wairau Bar,
in the northern area of the South Island,
and is dated between the 11th and 13th centuries.
It appears to have been a centre of stone adze fabrication.
As time went by the kainga became larger,
including some
defences. This began to happen when tensions started
arising over rights to areas rich in food resources.
Construction of the larger and more fortified "pa" has been recorded
as commencing over 500 years ago. A pa is a fortified settlement,
including ditches, banks and palisades as protection.
The fortified pa included a much more complex internal organisation
than that of the smaller kainga dwelling. Whereas the kainga had only
one cooking
area, the pa had several. Pits for storing food
were established outside of the perimeter palisades.
Inter-rtribal warfare became frequent, and with the arrival
of Europeans and muskets, leading to the inter-tribal Musket Wars,
the pa took on a new type of fortification in order to adapt.
As the British troops discovered, during the New Zealand wars,
a well-fortified pa was extremely difficult to take.
The battle of "Gate Pa" was a perfect example.
Prominent landmarks indicated the boundaries
of a tribal territory - mountains, lakes or rivers.
The Morioris named these islands Rekohu, after the mist which
hangs over the area. Here, the Moriori remained largely
isolated until the European discoverers arrived in 1791.
Although the Moriori are close relatives of the Maori, they have
distinct features which indicate perhaps an independent
colonisation from tropical Polynesia.
These first settlers were said to be descended from Te Aomarama and
Rongomaiwhenua (which is Moriori for Sky Father and Earth Mother)
The names of the three canoes bearing the first Moriori settlers
were : Rangi Houa, Rangi Mata and Oropuke.
Similarly to the Maoris, inter tribal warring led to a dangerous decline
in the number of the Moriori population, and this was said to have
been
stopped by the chief Nunuku Whenua, who ordered no more warring
to take place so that the population would not become decimated.
If a dispute took place, the custom was to cease immediately at the
first drawing of blood. In this way, the Moriori became a totally peaceful
people.
The main activity in the harsh conditions of these islands at that
time then became hunting birds, seal and shellfish for survival. The
Moriori population increased to an estimated 2000, but later fell to
around 1660 after the arrival of the first Europeans.
The Europeans arrived in the Chatham Islands (Rekohu) in 1791.
The British Lieutenant Broughton sailed in on the brig "Chatham",
took possession of the islands in the name of King George III, and
gave
them their present day name. As with Abel Tasman and Captain James
Cook,
the first confused encounters led to violence, with some Moriori being
killed.
From 1793, whaling and sealing ships from
Europe and North
America began invading New Zealand and the Chathams, making
the Chathams the centre of this industry. They largely ignored the
Moriori "tapus" which were directed against killing on breeding grounds,
and this European activity killed off one of the main sources of the
Moriori diet.
In 1835 Maori tribes from the Wellington area arrived in the Chathams,
driven south in search of new land, and claiming ownership of the Chathams.
A number of Morioris were killed and others captured.
The Moriori numbers fell to 101. Most of the Maori eventually l
eft the Chathams by 1870.
It was Solomon's grandfather, the chief of the Rauru tribe,
who convinced the Moriori to remain pacifist during
the invasion of their land. Tame Horomana Rehe Solomon,
known as Tommy Solomon, the last full blooded Moriori, died in 1933.
Historians are still at odds as to whether the Moriori were
a race apart, or simply earlier arrivals of Maori colonisation.
The Chatham Islands make up a group of ten islands, within a 40k
radius, separated 800k from the city of Christchurch in the
South Island of New Zealand. Only the two largest islands
are inhabited, Chatham Island, with a population of around
700, and Pitt Island, with a population of around 70.
|
From FOTW Flags Of The World website
|
Pitt Island was named after
William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham
.
The Chathams are controlled by New Zealand.
