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Geological Formation Begins 650 million years ago, the continents of South America, Africa, Antarctica, India, and Australia (including New Zealand) existed as one supercontinent, now known as Gondwana (or Gondwanaland). Gondwana was named after the Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic formations of the Gondwana district of central India. Approximately 130 million years ago, this supercontinent began to separate. By 60 million years ago, New Zealand, then known as the Rangitata Land Mass, had completely separated, and the Tasman Sea had reached its current width. Five millions years ago, with the Challenger Rift system and the plate boundary running along the line of the Alpine Fault and the Hikurangi Trench in place, the two main islands began to form their current shapes. Discovery There is some debate on when New Zealand was first discovered and inhabited. Maori tradition offers the story of Kupe, a Polynesian navigator who, using the stars and ocean currents as guides, set out from his ancestral home of Hawaiki, landing at what is now known as Northland about 800 years ago. Carbon dating of kiore bones, however, puts the rats in New Zealand about 2000 years ago. As it is unlikely the rats arrived there without human intervention, some scholars believe the dates of first discovery to be off by about 1200 years. Until further evidence of human inhabitation is found, the best that can be said with confidence is that the Maori began settling in New Zealand between 800 and 2000 years ago. At roughly the same time the Maori were settling in the North and South Islands, the Moriori were settling the Chatham Islands, previously known as Rekohu. Though some believe the Moriori were Polynesians who migrated independently of the Maori, evidence exists to suggest they were Maori from the South Island who migrated the Chathams, which are located off the east coast, about 900km from Christchurch. The Moriori espoused a pacifist culture, and due to their unwillingness to fight, many of them were slaughtered and cannibalised when the Maori invaded in 1835. Those who were not killed were enslaved. The last known Moriori of unmixed heritage died in 1933, but many Moriori descendents are alive today. The Maori named the islands Aotearoa, though this was not in common usage until after the arrival of the European settlers. The first European to find New Zealand was a Dutchman named Abel Tasman. He annexed it for Holland in 1642 as "Staten Landt," a name given because he mistakenly thought he had stumbled upon the western edge of a land discovered in the south Atlantic in 1616 by fellow Dutch explorers. Tasman had a run-in with Maori at what is now called Golden Bay, and four of his men died. As a result, he gave the bay a name - Murderer's Bay ( Moordenaers Baij) - and never set foot on New Zealand. When it was discovered that Tasman's Staten Landt had no association with Staten Landt, the land was renamed Nieuw Zeeland. One hypothesis for this name refers to Hollandia Nova, the original name given to Australia, because the Dutch provinces of Holland and Zeelandt were separated by sea, as are Australia and New Zealand. In 1768, Captain James Cook, then a first lieutenant in the British Navy, was sent to Tahiti to study the transit of Venus, after which he was to search for a continent thought to exist in the southern seas. A Tahitian chief, Tupaia, joined Cook's voyage in search of the southern continent, proving a valuable companion because of his knowledge of local customs and the similarity of his native tongue to that of Maori. In October 1769, Nicholas Young, a cabin boy known as "Young Nick" sighted the coastline of New Zealand. Despite several violent encounters with Maori, Cook successfully circumnavigated and mapped the islands, taking formal possession at Mercury Bay, on the Coromandel Peninsula of the North Island, in November. Cook left New Zealand in 1770, leading two later expeditions before his death in 1779. The waters around New Zealand were later visited by British, French and American whaling ships, notably Cyrille Laplace in 1830. Rumours that Laplace had taken New Zealand for France - though unfounded - led Northland tribal chiefs to ask for protection from Great Britain under King William IV. This eventually led to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and the subsequent British annexation of New Zealand. Colonisation By 1840, the British wanted to forestall other European countries and end the lawlessness of European whalers and traders. Maori were motivated by the promise of protection, and the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in February of that year. Though it wasn't until September that a majority of signatures from tribal chiefs were secured, Captain William Hobson claimed British sovereignty over New Zealand in May 1840. In brief, the treaty provided for the following:
With increased emigration to New Zealand came an increased need for land and an increase in land disputes with Maori. Ambiguity and lack of adherence to the Treaty of Waitangi caused increased skirmishes, which eventually led to war over the two decades from 1840 to 1860. Despite several victories, the Maori were outnumbered by colonial forces and eventually lost the New Zealand wars. Their numbers declined to 40,000 by 1900. Through interaction and intermarriage, Maori went on to adopt more European culture. Over time, they have become more urbanized, more politically active and more culturally assertive. New Alliances and the Future of New Zealand Though still tied strongly to British culture after World War II, New Zealand began to form more friendly ties with the United States. In 1951, the country entered into the Australia-New Zealand-United States Security Treaty (ANZUS), agreeing that the three nations would maintain and develop capabilities to resist armed attack in the Pacific area on any of them, and that they would meet any such attack in accordance with their constitutional processes. The United States suspended defense obligations with New Zealand in 1986 when the latter refused port access to nuclear-weapons capable and nuclear-powered ships. Maintaining its anti-nuclear stance today, New Zealand may look forward to eventually becoming a republic. Please see New Zealand in History for an in-depth study of New Zealand's history.
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