NzAtAGlance

The Morioris were the first inhabitants of New Zealand. When the Maoris turned up the Morioris went to the Chatham Islands to live in peace. The word Maori means local people, or original people, opposed to the Pakeha, or white man. The word Maori gradually became the Maori people. They were known as the Maori people before 1815.

The Maoris history relies a lot on the word getting handed down the generations. Maori legends and gods describe natural disasters that have occurred over the years before the could be recorded. A good example is the great fleet, which was the first Maoris to travel to New Zealand. The legend says that the first Maoris to arrive in New Zealand, arrived from the ancestral home land of Hawaiiki. They got to New Zealand in large canoes and landed at the Hokianga Harbour.

Today there are about 400,000 Maoris in New Zealand. New Zealand’s total population being about 3,500,000. Most Maoris still live in Northland, Auckland, the Waikato, and the King Country. Maori culture is still around but has changed heaps since the 1800s. The modern Maori way of life is the general kiwi way of life

Keep checking out this site for more info on the New Zealand Maori.