AHC/WI: Aotearoa as country

What would happen if North Island in New Zealand was unified under a Maori clan and the island is explored and visited by Chinese explorers during the 15-17th century? How high could the population get if the island receives goods, animals and crops from China or East Indies? I´m talking only about North Island in this case.
 
What would happen if North Island in New Zealand was unified under a Maori clan and the island is explored and visited by Chinese explorers during the 15-17th century? How high could the population get if the island receives goods, animals and crops from China or East Indies? I´m talking only about North Island in this case.
Well, first, you would need to have a reason for the Ming Chinese to go southeast. The trade is in the Indian Ocean to the southwest, and I don't think any serious academic historians say they ever went east of Japan.
 
Well, first, you would need to have a reason for the Ming Chinese to go southeast. The trade is in the Indian Ocean to the southwest, and I don't think any serious academic historians say they ever went east of Japan.
This is why this is both a challenge and a what if thread, you should find a way to bring stuff from the East Indies or China here somehow.
 
Learning about the abundance of jade might help. The Chinese really loved their jade. If they learn about a mysterious "Jade Island" it could become their version of El Dorado.

Pounamu refers to several types of hard, durable and highly valued nephrite jade, bowenite, or serpentinite stone found in southern New Zealand. Pounamu is the Māori name. These rocks are also generically known as "greenstone" in New Zealand English.
 
ICBW but weren't the Maori isolated from the rest of Polynesia, never mind Australia or Southeast Asia?

Well, you need them to become part of the pacific trade network obviously. Sorry, if I wasn't clear about that. What I meant is that jade would go a long way to motivate a Chinese expedition to explore its source,more than any other trade good/rumor probably could. It would also be a good reason to secure a long term supply relationship.
 
Well, you need them to become part of the pacific trade network obviously. Sorry, if I wasn't clear about that. What I meant is that jade would go a long way to motivate a Chinese expedition to explore its source,more than any other trade good/rumor probably could. It would also be a good reason to secure a long term supply relationship.
Well, silver would be much more important than jade to any Ming trader. I honestly think the importance of jade in China, particularly Late Imperial China, is exaggerated.

A way I can think this can happen (definitely not as realistic as I would like) is maybe if Chinese traders operate the trepang trade way before the Macassans did in OTL. This eventually leads to Chinese settlement colonies that survive and eventually colonize the more hospitable parts of Australia, eventually maybe the Chinese end up in New Zealand via the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
 
Well, silver would be much more important than jade to any Ming trader. I honestly think the importance of jade in China, particularly Late Imperial China, is exaggerated.

A way I can think this can happen (definitely not as realistic as I would like) is maybe if Chinese traders operate the trepang trade way before the Macassans did in OTL. This eventually leads to Chinese settlement colonies that survive and eventually colonize the more hospitable parts of Australia, eventually maybe the Chinese end up in New Zealand via the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
Ok, we could use this scenario. By having some colonies Chinese colonies in Australia and contact with North Island, what would happen to the Maoris population, diet, agriculture etc?
 
What would happen if North Island in New Zealand was unified under a Maori clan and the island is explored and visited by Chinese explorers during the 15-17th century? How high could the population get if the island receives goods, animals and crops from China or East Indies? I´m talking only about North Island in this case.

I wonder, if all the iwi had been unified under some kind of confederation or feudal monarchy before the British came, would Aotearoa have been able to do what Tonga did, adopt Christianity and some trappings of Western civilization in order to avoid conquest and retain Maori culture and language?
 
Last edited:
I wonder, if all the iwi had been unified under some kind of confederation or feudal monarchy before the British came, would Aotearoa have been able to do what Tonga did, adopt Christianity and some trappings of Western civilization in order to avoid conquest and retain Maori culture and language?

I don't think you would've been able to get that without some external threat to unify them. You also have the issue that pre-colonial New Zealand had low population density, and to the colonist point of view, is just waiting for Europeans to move in and exploit the land better. Tonga didn't really have that issue because of it's geography. You'd need the Maori to get better agriculture to prevent that, either from China (or any other Asian country who somehow contacts them) or South America (spread of potatoes somehow, probably through the Rapa Nui). Once you do Aotearoa will probably evolve like any other Asian civilisation in the age of colonialism. Since they'd be late to unifying, I'd expect them to be colonised by someone, but perhaps because of their remoteness they could remain independent to a large degree (like Thailand). Modern-age Aotearoa would have a population far larger than OTL New Zealand, all Maori-speaking, as well as a significantly less wealthy population.
 
I read that New Zealand's northern island had the bulk of the Maori population because further south their tropical agriculture didn't work that well in the temperate environment. Maybe only the northern island unifies and has colonies and trade treaties with the southern Maori?
 
Top