No, it still wouldn't work. Not without a butterfly net.
I think its OK to assume a butterfly net in scenarios like this. Just because the OP doesn't explicitly mention it doesn't mean we need to call a jihad of the Knights Butterfly.
No, it still wouldn't work. Not without a butterfly net.
Not immediately, but after a few decades Europe would be irreparably and irrevocably changed. We don't yet fully understand the connectivity of the Earth and its functions. The global ecosystem is connected in ways that we can scarcely imagine. The loss of a single bacteria fifty years ago could make the United States collapse in the place of the Soviet Union and see the rise of communism around the entire world.
It is possible that New Zealand could've avoided human habitation. After all it was (and still is) a long way from anywhere. Explorers could've decided not to settle New Zealand because it was either too remote, too cold or too wild for their liking and decided to return home.
They could've missed New Zealand altogether as the navigators didn't always get it right.
Malice said:It is also worth mentioning that Europeans only discovered New Zealand because they were looking for a mythical Great Southern Land, which was the stuff of legends in Europe and Asia. Without those legends the discovery of New Zealand would've been the result of an error. In the 1840s Europeans were depending on Maori to survive because they couldn't handle New Zealand's harsh environment. If the Maori hadn't been here it's almost certain their settlements would've been abandoned as the settlers would not have survived the conditions.
I think there is a general point here, that it is hard to settle a place for the first time quickly.
Do we have a reason to be sure it will be settled? I suspect people would just come by to hunt expensive animals and then leave to sell them.
Like others have said, Polynesians probably had been exploring in this area for a while, and sooner or later they would get here. And sooner or later they would decide to settle here, it is difficult to believe they could ignore such a large landmass considering the general lack of large landmasses in the Pacific.
New Zealand is actually very isolated, not just because of distance from other landmasses but by mostly adverse currents too.