User:OldManRivers/Maori


 * For the language, see Māori language. For other meanings see Māori (disambiguation).

The Māori (commonly or ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand (Aotearoa). They arrived from East Polynesia in several waves at some time before the year 1300, settled and developed a distinct culture. Their language is very closely related to Cook Islands Māori and Tahitian.

Māori society was destabilised from the late 18th century by the weapons and diseases introduced by Europeans, and after 1840 they lost an increasing amount of their land, and went into a cultural and numerical decline. However their population began to increase again from the late 19th century, and a marked Māori cultural revival began in the 1960s and continues.

Naming and self-naming
In the Māori language the word māori means "normal", "natural" or "ordinary". In legends and other oral traditions, the word distinguished ordinary mortal human beings from deities and spirits (wairua).

Early visitors from Europe to New Zealand generally referred to the inhabitants as "New Zealanders" or as "natives", but Māori became the term used by Māori to describe themselves in a pan-tribal sense.

Māori people often use the term tangata whenua (literally, "people of the land") to describe themselves in a way that emphasises their relationship with a particular area of land — a tribe may be the tangata whenua in one area, but not in another. The term can also refer to Māori as a whole in relation to New Zealand (Aotearoa) as a whole.

The Maori Purposes Act of 1947 required the use of the term 'Maori' rather than 'Native' in official usage, and the Department of Native Affairs became the Department of Māori Affairs. It is now Te Puni Kōkiri, or the Ministry for Māori Development.

Prior to 1974 ancestry determined the legal definition of "a Māori person". For example, bloodlines determined whether a person should enrol on the Māori or general (European) electoral roll; in 1947 the authorities determined that one man, five-eighths Māori, had improperly voted in the general (European) parliamentary electorate of Raglan. The Māori Affairs Amendment Act 1974 changed the definition to one of cultural self-identification. In matters involving money (for example scholarships or Waitangi Tribunal settlements), the authorities generally require some demonstration of ancestry or cultural connection, but no minimum “blood” requirement exists.

Origins


The most current reliable evidence strongly indicates that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE. Previous dating of some Kiore (Polynesian rat) bones at 50–150 CE has now been shown to have been unreliable; new samples of bone (and now also of unequivocally rat-gnawed woody seed cases) match the 1280 CE date of the earliest archaeological sites and the beginning of sustained, anthropogenic deforestation. Māori oral history describes the arrival of ancestors from Hawaiki (a mythical homeland in tropical Polynesia) in large ocean-going canoes (waka: see Māori migration canoes). Migration accounts vary among tribes (iwi), whose members may identify with several waka in their genealogies or whakapapa.

No credible evidence exists of human settlement in New Zealand prior to the Polynesian voyagers; compelling evidence from archaeology, linguistics, and physical anthropology indicates that the first settlers came from East Polynesia and became the Māori. Language evolution studies at the University of Auckland suggest that most Pacific populations originated from Taiwanese aborigines around 5,200 years ago (before Chinese colonisation), as does mitochondrial DNA evidence.

Archaeological history
Between c. 1280 AD and c. 1400 AD archeology has shown that Otago was the node of Māori cultural development. The majority of archaic settlements were on or within 10 km of the coast, though it was commmon to establish small temporary camps (whakaruruhau) far inland. The settlements ranged in size from 40 people (Palliser Bay, Wellington), the more common size, to 300 - 400, with 40 buildings at Shag River mouth. The main food was moa which were hunted to extinction in 180 years. Up to 9.2 moa per week were killed - each producing an average 45 kg of meat. Moahunters extensively modified the natural vegetation by burning. Old soils show the thin horizons of carbon associated with this activity. The middens of the people reveal that they enjoyed a rich, varied diet of birds, fish, seals and shellfish. The best known archaic or Moahunter site is at Waiau Bar which has been extensively studied. The oldest skeleton was 30 - 32 years old with the mean age of skeletons 12 - 14 years. The people still practiced Polynesian style burials. The teeth of all the older skeletons were worn to the gums. This is believed to be one reason for the low life expectancy. Artifacts found were bone necklaces, primitive worked stone tool adze heads and the remains of small shelters. All of the older skeletons showed signs of a hard life with many having broken bones that had healed suggesting a balanced diet and a supportive community that had the resources to support severely injured family members. In many instances the ultimate cause of death was a blow to the head. Due to tectonic forces some of this site is now under water.

As from the 15th century Māori culture underwent a radical change due to a variety of factors - the cooling of the climate, a series of massive earthquakes in the South Island of 7 - 8 on the Richter scale, tsunamis that destroyed many coastal settlements and the extinction of 48 food species.

Early European contact


European settlement of New Zealand occurred in relatively historical times. New Zealand historian Michael King in The Penguin History Of New Zealand describes the Māori as "the last major human community on earth untouched and unaffected by the wider world."

Early European explorers, including Abel Tasman (who arrived in 1642) and Captain James Cook (who first visited in 1769), recorded their impressions of Māori. From the 1780s, Māori encountered European and American sealers and whalers; some Māori crewed on the foreign ships. A trickle of escaped convicts from Australia and deserters from visiting ships, as well as early Christian missionaries, also exposed the indigenous population to outside influences. In the Boyd Massacre in 1809, Māori took hostage and killed 66 members of the crew and passengers in apparent revenge for the whipping of the son of a Māori chief by the captain. Several of the accounts of the survivors recounted the practice of cannibalism. This episode caused shipping companies and missionaries to be wary and significantly reduced contact between Europeans and Māori for several years.

By 1830, estimates placed the number of Europeans living among the Māori as high as 2,000. The newcomers had varying status-levels within Māori society, ranging from slaves to high-ranking advisors. Some remained little more than prisoners, while others abandoned European culture and identified as Māori. These Europeans "gone native" became known as Pākehā Māori. Many Māori valued them as a means to the acquisition of European technology, particularly firearms. When Pomare led a war-party against Titore in 1838, he had 132 Pākehā Māori mercenaries among his warriors. Frederick Edward Maning, an early settler, wrote two lively accounts of life in these times, which have become classics of New Zealand literature: Old New Zealand and History of the War in the North of New Zealand against the Chief Heke.

During the period from 1805 to 1840 the acquisition of muskets by tribes in close contact with European visitors upset the balance of power among Māori tribes, leading to a period of bloody inter-tribal warfare, known as the Musket Wars, which resulted in the decimation of several tribes and the driving of others from their traditional territory. European diseases such as influenza and measles killed an unknown number of Māori: estimates vary between ten and fifty percent. Economic changes also took a toll; migration into unhealthy swamplands to produce and export flax led to further mortality.

New Zealand colonization


With increasing Christian missionary activity, growing European settlement in the 1830s and the perceived lawlessness of Europeans in New Zealand, the British Crown, as a world power, came under pressure to intervene. Ultimately, Whitehall sent William Hobson with instructions to take possession of New Zealand. Before he arrived, Queen Victoria annexed New Zealand by royal proclamation in January 1840. On arrival in February 1840, Hobson negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with northern chiefs. Other Māori chiefs subsequently signed this treaty. In the end, only 500 chiefs out of the 1500 sub-tribes of New Zealand signed the Treaty, and some influential chiefs — such as Te Wherowhero in Waikato, and Te Kani-a-Takirau from the east coast of the North Island — refused to sign. The Treaty made the Māori British subjects in return for a guarantee of Māori property rights and tribal autonomy.

Dispute continues over whether the Treaty of Waitangi ceded Māori sovereignty. Māori chiefs signed a Māori-language version of the Treaty that did not accurately reflect the English-language version. It appears unlikely that the Māori version of the treaty ceded sovereignty; and the Crown and the missionaries probably did not fully explain the meaning of the English version.

Māori set up substantial businesses, supplying food and other products for domestic and overseas markets.

Among the early European settlers who learnt Māori and recorded Māori mythology, George Grey, Governor of New Zealand 1845-1855 and 1861–1868, stands out.

In the 1860s, disputes over questionable land purchases and the attempts of Māori in the Waikato to establish what some saw as a rival to the British system of royalty led to the New Zealand wars. Although these resulted in relatively few deaths, the colonial government confiscated large tracts of tribal land as punishment for what they called rebellion (although the Crown had initiated the military action against its own citizens), in some cases taking land from tribes that had taken no part in the war. Some tribes fought against the Crown, while others (known as kupapa) fought in support of the Crown. After most of the fighting had ceased, a passive resistance movement developed at the settlement of Parihaka in Taranaki, but Crown troops dispersed its participants in 1881.

The Native Land Acts of 1862 and 1865 set up the Native Land Court, which had the purpose of breaking down communal ownership and facilitating the alienation of land. As a result, between 1840 and 1890 Māori lost 95 percent of their land (63,000,000 of 66,000,000 acres in 1890).

With the loss of much of their land, Māori went into a period of numerical and cultural decline, and by the late 19th century a widespread belief existed amongst both Pakeha and Māori that the Māori population would cease to exist as a separate race or culture and become assimilated into the European population.

In 1840, New Zealand had a Māori population of about 100,000 and only about 2,000 Europeans. The Māori population had declined to 42,113 in the 1896 census and Europeans numbered more than 700,000.

Modern period




The decline of the Māori population did not continue, and levels recovered. Despite a substantial level of intermarriage between the Māori and European populations, many Māori retained their cultural identity. A number of discourses developed as to the meaning of "Māori" and to who counted as Māori or not. (Māori do not form a monolithic bloc, and no one political or tribal authority can speak on behalf of all Māori.) There is no racial test to determine who is Māori or not, merely an affinity with one's Māori ancestry (regardless of how remote). Thus a significant percentage of those identifying as Māori may well appear to be of European ancestry. The dominant discourse in New Zealand mitigates against concepts of mixed race or multiple heritage being recognised.

From the late 19th century, successful Māori politicians such as James Carroll, Apirana Ngata, Te Rangi Hīroa and Maui Pomare emerged. They showed skill in the arts of Pākehā politics; at one point Carroll became Acting Prime Minister. The group, known as the Young Māori Party, cut across voting-blocs in Parliament and aimed to revitalise the Māori people after the devastation of the previous century. For them this involved assimilation — Māori adopting European ways of life such as Western medicine and education. However Ngata in particular also wished to preserve traditional Māori culture, especially the arts. Ngata acted as a major force behind the revival of arts such as kapa haka and carving. He also enacted a programme of land-development which helped many iwi retain and develop their land.

The government decided to exempt Māori from the conscription that applied to other citizens in World War II, but Māori volunteered in large numbers, forming the 28th or Māori Battalion, which performed creditably, notably in Crete, North Africa and Italy. Altogether 17,000 Māori took part in the war.

Since the 1960s, Māoridom has undergone a cultural revival strongly connected with a protest movement. Government recognition of the growing political power of Māori and political activism have led to limited redress for unjust confiscation of land and for the violation of other property rights. The Crown set up the Waitangi Tribunal, a body with the powers of a Commission of Enquiry, to investigate and make recommendations on such issues, but it cannot make binding rulings. As a result of the redress paid to many iwi (tribes), Māori now have significant interests in the fishing and forestry industries. Tensions remain, with complaints from Māori that the settlements occur at a level of between 1 and 2.5 cents on the dollar of the value of the confiscated lands. The Government need not accept the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal, and has rejected some of them, with a and widely-debated example in the New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy.

The urbanisation of Māori proceeded apace in the second half of the 20th century. A majority of Māori people live in cities and towns, and many have become estranged from tribal roots and customs.

Once Were Warriors, a 1994 film adapted from a 1990 novel of the same name by Alan Duff, brought the plight of some urban Māori to a wide audience. It was the highest-grossing film in New Zealand until 2006, and received international acclaim, winning several international film prizes. While some Māori feared that viewers would consider the violent male characters an accurate portrayal of Māori men, most critics praised it as exposing the raw side of domestic violence. Some Māori opinion, particularly feminist, welcomed the debate on domestic violence that the film enabled.

In many areas of New Zealand, Māori lost its role as a living community language used by significant numbers of people in the post-war years. In tandem with calls for sovereignty and for the righting of social injustices from the 1970s onwards, many New Zealand schools now teach Māori culture and language, and pre-school kohanga reo ("language-nests") have started, which teach tamariki (young children) exclusively in Māori. These extend right through secondary schools (kura tuarua). In 2004 Māori Television, a government-funded channel committed to broadcasting primarily in te reo, began. Māori is an official language de jure, but English is de facto the national language. At the 2006 Census, Māori was the second most widely-spoken language after English, with four percent of New Zealanders able to speak Māori to at least a conversational level. No official data has been gathered on fluency levels.

There are seven designated Māori seats in the Parliament of New Zealand (and Māori can and do stand in and win general roll seats), and consideration of and consultation with Māori have become routine requirements for councils and government organisations. Debate occurs frequently as to the relevance and legitimacy of the Māori electoral roll, and the National Party announced in 2008 it would abolish the seats when all historic Treaty settlements have been resolved, which it aims to complete by 2014.

Modern challenges
Māori on average have fewer assets than the rest of the population, and run greater risks of many negative economic and social outcomes. Over 50% of Māori live in areas in the three highest deprivation deciles, compared with 24% of the rest of the population. Although Māori make up only 14% of the population, they make up almost 50% of the prison population. Māori have higher unemployment-rates than other cultures resident in New Zealand Māori have higher numbers of suicides than non-Māori. "Only 47% of Māori school-leavers finish school with qualifications higher than NCEA Level One; compared to a massive 74% European; 87% Asian." Māori suffer more health problems, including higher levels of alcohol and drug abuse, smoking and obesity. Less frequent use of healthcare services mean that late diagnosis and treatment intervention lead to higher levels of morbidity and mortality in many manageable conditions, such as cervical cancer, diabetes per head of population than Pākehā (non-Māori). Māori also have considerably lower life-expectancies compared to New Zealanders of European ancestry: Māori males 69.0 years vs. non-Māori males 77.2 years; Māori females 73.2 yrs vs. non-Māori females 81.9 years. Also, a recent study by the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse showed that Māori women and children are more likely to experience domestic violence than any other ethnic group.

Treaty of Waitangi settlements
During the 1990s and 2000s, the government negotiated with Māori to provide redress for breaches by the Crown of the guarantees set out in the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. By 2006 the government had provided over NZ$900 million in settlements, much of it in the form of land deals. The largest settlement, signed on 25 June 2008 with seven Māori iwi, transferred nine large tracts of forested land to Māori control.

Language
Māori or te reo Māori (pronounced [ˈmaːoɾi, te ˈɾeo ˈmaːoɾi]) commonly te reo ("the language"), is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori, where it has the status of an official language. Linguists classify it within the Eastern Polynesian languages as being closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan and Tahitian; somewhat less closely to Hawaiian and Marquesan; and more distantly to the languages of Western Polynesia, including Samoan, Tokelauan, Niuean and Tongan.

Beginning


The Eastern Polynesian ancestors of the Māori arrived in a forested land with abundant birdlife, including several now extinct moa species weighing from 20 to 250 kg. Other species, also now extinct, included a swan, a goose and the giant Haast's Eagle, which preyed upon the moa. Marine mammals, in particular seals, thronged the coasts, with coastal colonies much further north than.

In the mid-19th century, people discovered large numbers of moa-bones alongside human tools, with some of the bones showing evidence of butchery and cooking. Early researchers, such as Julius von Haast, a geologist, incorrectly interpreted these remains as belonging to a prehistoric Paleolithic people; later researchers, notably Percy Smith, magnified such theories into an elaborate scenario with a series of sharply-defined cultural stages which had Māori arriving in a Great Fleet in 1350 AD and replacing the so-called "moa-hunter" culture with a "classical Māori" culture based on horticulture. anthropological theories recognise no evidence for a pre-Māori people; the archaeological record indicates a gradual evolution in culture that varied in pace and extent according to local resources and conditions.



In the course of a few centuries, growing population led to competition for resources and an increase in warfare. The archaeological record reveals an increased frequency of fortified pā, although debate continues about the amount of conflict. Various systems arose which aimed to conserve resources; most of these, such as tapu and rāhui, used religious or supernatural threats to discourage people from taking species at particular seasons or from specified areas.

Warfare between tribes was common, generally over land conflicts or to restore mana. Fighting was carried out between units called hapu. Although not practised during times of peace, Māori would cannibalise their conquered enemies.

As Māori continued in geographic isolation, performing arts such as the haka developed from their Polynesian roots, as did carving and weaving. Regional dialects arose, with minor differences in vocabulary and in the pronunciation of some words. The language retains close similarities to other Eastern Polynesian tongues, to the point where a Tahitian chief on Cook's first voyage in the region acted as an interpreter between Māori and the crew of the Endeavour.

Around 1500 AD a group of Māori migrated east to Rekohu (the Chatham Islands), where, by adapting to the local climate and the availability of resources, they developed a culture known as Moriori — related to but distinct from Māori culture in mainland Aotearoa. A notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on pacifism, proved disastrous when a party of invading Taranaki Māori arrived in 1835. Few of the estimated Moriori population of 2000 survived.

Contemporary era
According to Tania Kopytko, now the executive director of DANZ — Dance Aotearoa,, Māori youth have always had a difficult time maintaining ties with traditional culture, especially lacking "the commitment and effort necessary for a knowledge of [it]". For this reason, Māori youth import mainstream and popular cultural icons, identities, and lifestyles in considerable quantities. Most typically, these Māori youth will take after the African-American hip hop culture, as its perceived mainstream status makes it readily accessible to them. Kopytko also says that the socio-political position of African Americans resisting a dominant white culture mirrors the situation of Māori, Polynesian, and even poor-white youth resisting the oppressive white forces which occupy the higher economic strata of society in New Zealand. Finally, the mass consumption of British punk in 1982 marked the first real establishment of a youth culture and, more importantly, paved the way for such a warm reception of foreign forms with the influx of what Kopytko calls the "breakdance package". In this way, facilitation by a pre-existing youth culture and identification with the African-American cause have both made importing the associated hip hop culture quite easy. One feature of this youth import culture, breakdancing, arrived in New Zealand in 1983 from Western Samoa, confirms Kopytko. Indeed, "breakdance provided a very strong and positive identity that did much to raise [Māori] self esteem and realize their capabilities." Māori youth utilize the social space that breakdancing provides them in a very dynamic fashion, she says, gaining recognition and notions of increased self-worth in the process. Kopytko suggests that this appropriation of breakdancing allowed the later arrival of rap to become "a vehicle for vernacular expressions of Māori militancy".

In years, indigenous peoples have made attempts to reconnect with their youth. A 1992 song by the group Moana and the Moahunters called out to young Māori to learn the language and to accept their heritage. The music video for this song shows images of Māori in traditional dress doing traditional dances to a modern hip-hop beat. The video targets youth through its rhythms while it educates them about their heritage.

Kapa haka
Kapa haka (literally, haka team), a traditional Māori performance art form, is still popular today. It includes haka (posture dance), poi (dance accompanied by song and rhythmic movements of the poi, a light ball on a string) waiata-ā-ringa (action songs) and waiata koroua (traditional chants). From the early 1900s kapa haka concert parties began touring overseas, including those led by guide Makareti (Maggie) Papakura. Since 1972 there has been a regular competition, the Te Matatini National Festival, organised by the Aotearoa Traditional Māori Performing Arts Society. Kapa haka is taught by experts such as Ngāpo (Bub) Wehi, Pita Sharples, and Tihi Puanaki, and notable kapa haka groups include Waihirere of the Gisborne area, and Te Waka Huia from Auckland. There are also kapa haka groups in schools, tertiary institutions and workplaces. Kapa haka is performed at tourist venues such as Te Puia in Whakarewarewa, Wairākei Terraces near Taupo, and Ko Tāne in Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, Christchurch.

Sport
Māori participate fully in New Zealand's sporting culture. The national All Black rugby union team has featured many Māori players even though rugby league is more popular with Māori. There are also Māori rugby union, rugby league and cricket teams that play in international competitions. Ki-o-rahi and tapawai are two sports of Māori origin. Ki-o-rahi got an unexpected boost when McDonalds chose it to represent New Zealand. Waka ama (outrigger canoeing) is also popular with Māori.

Commerce
The New Zealand Law Commission has started a project to develop a legal framework for Māori who want to manage communal resources and responsibilities. The voluntary system proposes an alternative to existing companies, incorporations, and trusts in which tribes and hapu and other groupings can interact with the legal system. The foreshadowed legislation, under the proposed name of the "Waka Umanga (Māori Corporations) Act", would provide a model adaptable to suit the needs of individual iwi. It seems likely that the Government coalition will not support the Bill in its un-amended form and if the final Act should pass into law, it will presumably depart significantly less radically from the current legal personalities afforded by New Zealand law. Between 1998 and 2006, Ngāti Toa attempted to trademark the haka Ka Mate to prevent its use by commercial organisations without their permission. In 2001, Danish toymaker Lego faced legal action by several Māori tribal groups (fronted by lawyer Maui Solomon) and members of the on-line discussion forum (Aotearoa Cafe) for trademarking Māori words used in naming the Bionicle product range—see Bionicle Māori controversy.

Belief and religion
Māori "tend to be followers of Presbyterianism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), or Māori Christian groups such as Ratana and Ringatu", but with Catholic, Anglican and Methodist groupings also prominent. Islam is the fastest growing religion amongst the Māori community.