alternatehistory.com

Before Europeans (mainly British or Irish) came to New Zealand the Maori ruled the land in different, warring tribes (iwi) and sub-tribes (hapu). The Treaty of Waitangi was signed on the 6th of February 1840 which led to NZ becoming a British colony. Pre-1840 Maori-European relations were pretty good, apparently one of the best native-colonist relations in the world at the time. New Zealand was advertised as a place of harmony between the races. The two races needed each other, Maori needed the British for muskets, medicine, iron tools, new crops/livestock etc. and the settlers needed the Maori for food, protection, land, etc. After this the Treaty of Waitangi was signed their relations began to crumble. Before you would see Maori and Pakeha (foreigners) living together peacefully in towns and villages together but the settlements soon began to become more homogeneous with Maori villages becoming a common sight on the outskirts of the Pakeha towns and cities. The New Zealand Land Wars divided the settlers and Maori even more and the European population soon surpassed the Maori population.

Mid-20th century Maori quality of life and life expectancy was far below non-Maori and the government had been confiscating ancestral Maori lands from the iwi. Although the Maori-Pakeha relations were still a lot better than other indigenous/minority relations around the world at the time (eg. in Australia, the US, Brazil, South Africa etc.), and it was still common to see interracial friendships and marriages, it was far from ideal. There were protests, occupations, riots leading into the 60's and 70's. Finally the Waitangi Tribunal was set up in 1975 to accommodate the violations of the Treaty. Today relations are better than ever although, the 6th of Feb (Waitangi Day) is coming up. It is meant to be NZ's national day, celebrating our unity but unfortunately this day tends to divide New Zealanders instead of unite them. Incidents on Waitangi Day at Waitangi have included, large protests, t-shirts being thrown at the Queen, a prime minister crying, mud thrown, many confrontations, punches thrown etc. As a New Zealander, I'd like to know when New Zealand turned from being a place of harmony to being a place of controversy and injustice (and back again). The POD could be in the Treaty of Waitangi or mid 19th century when things started to turn bad.

This website might explain the relations and history a little better than I did,
http://www.historytoday.com/keith-sinclair/new-zealand-declared-british-colony although it is written in the 80's when NZ was still very conservative by a white male NZer, so except a little bias.

Im not trying to put down New Zealand as a place, I love living here and honestly could not imagine living anywhere else like I do here, and all races are seen as completely equal here by 99.99% of people here, it's just NZ has a troubled past, like most countries do.

Anyway, the main task is make the relations between Maori and non-Maori the best possible up until the current day :cool:
Top