Legend has it that Maori People came to New Zealand in seven great canoes from a mythical island called Hawaiki. Archaeological evidence points to New Zealand having been settled by Maori in the thirteenth century AD. But the DNA trail leads to fierce indigenous tribes of southern Taiwan that were into head-hunting.
In the 17th and 18th centuries European colonists were attempting to conquer the world. New Zealand was so far away that Maoris were initially saved from the onslaught of Europe's colonising ethos. 13th December 1642, the first Europeans ever to land on our shores were the Dutchman Abel Janszoon Tasman and the crews of his two ships.
What must the inhabitants have thought of the billowing white sails of the huge ships and the pale faces of strangely clothed aliens?
The Dutchmen saw half naked brown savages with black hair pulled up into top-knots stuck through with white feathers.
Unfortunately the Dutchmen misinterpreted a challenge from the natives. Three crewmen were killed before muskets and ships’ guns were fired overhead. One dead crewman was dragged back to shore where he was cooked and eaten as part of a ritual to absorb the mana of the foe.
Sailing away Tasman named the place Murderer’s Bay, which has now been changed to Golden Bay after the colour of the sands. He named the country New Zeland.
