The History of New Zealand

🇳🇿 The History of New Zealand begins in the Middle Ages, when humans first arrived in the form of the Polynesian explorer Kupe. New Zealand was the last significant land mass on Earth to be settled by humans. The following five centuries saw the development of what became the Maori culture. The first European to sight the islands was Abel Tasman in 1642, but it was Cook in 1769 that thoroughly mapped the islands, leading the way for the first European settlers in the following decades.

🕐TIMESTAMPS🕖
👉0:00 Intro and Titles
👉1:35 Overview
👉2:52 Before Humans / Polynesian Discovery
👉3:52 The Maori Centuries
👉4:31 European Discovery / Tasman / Cook
👉5:45 Initial European Settlement / Musket Wars
👉7:19 Declaration of Maori Independence / Treaty of Waitangi
👉8:32 The New Zealand Wars
👉10:04 British Sovereignty and Early Colony
👉11:53 Liberal Party 1893-1910
👉12:34 Agricultural Exports to Britain
👉13:13 20th Century to 1970s
👉15:15 Maori Urbanisation / Waitangi Tribunal
👉16:33 Crisis of the 1970s / Rogernomics of the 1980s
👉17:45 Nuclear Free Zone / Rainbow Warrior
👉19:03 Summary and Outro

🇳🇿 Initial contacts between Europeans and Maoris was peaceful, although the trading of land for muskets resulted in the Musket Wars of the early 1800s. The British sought to control the disorganised state of land purchases with the Maori through the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840, which established British Sovereignty of New Zealand and the first colony. Many Maori tribes felt they had been deceived by the treaty, and rebelled in the decades-long New Zealand Wars of the mid 1800s, in which many lands were confiscated by the British from the Maori.

🇳🇿 British settlement of New Zealand accelerated during this time. The British settlers were given a parliament in 1852, and the capital moved from Auckland to Wellington in 1865. Gradually the forests were transformed to pastureland and millions of sheep generated wool to be sent back to the mills of Britain. Later came meat, butter and fruits, an export trade that dominated the New Zealand economy for a century or more.

🇳🇿 The Liberal Party reforms at the end of the 19th Century included New Zealand bringing the first equal votes of women anywhere in the world.

🇳🇿 New Zealanders joined Britain with the ANZACs in World War I, and again supported the mother country in World War II. New Zealand would finally gain full independence from Britain in 1947, after earlier gaining Dominion status in 1907. Post war international relations continued with Britain but also the USA in the form of the ANZUS pact that saw New Zealand troops supporting the US in Vietnam.

🇳🇿 Domestically New Zealand suffered as agricultural exports slumped in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Out of this came a welfare state that increasingly dominated the economy up to the 1980s. But the 1970s saw New Zealand lose its greatest trading partner when Britain joined the EEC in 1973. New Zealand was forced to change its economic base and this accelerated with the economic liberalisation of the 1980s and "Rogernomics".

🇳🇿 New Zealand finally separated from any influence of the USA when it declared a Nuclear Free Zone in 1984. The subsequent failure of the USA to condemn France's sinking of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour the following year confirmed this fracture.

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POLICY ON CRITICISM

Comments are welcome, but if you have a correction, you must specify what you believe to be the exact error, as well as providing what you believe to be the correct information. Failure to do this will result in your comment being deleted. Additionally, all negatively opinionated comments that do not offer constructive solutions will also be deleted. *** All comments are moderated. ***

[wyjaehan]

As an Asian Kiwi, it would have been nice if you touched on the waves of immigration into NZ from other parts of the world. The 1860s gold rush of NZ is quite interesting. Post-WW2 migration would also be nice to touch upon. This would make for a more comprehensive representation of NZ history.

[AdventuresofanoldSeadog]

Lived there for two years. Amazing doesn't begin to describe it. A wonderful place.

[Swanoaks]

I am a proud New Zealander, born and bred. Three of the Grandparents are English and one grandfather Danish. They came out to New Zealand in the early 19th century. I was born during the WW2 and remember the end of the war even to this day. Born in the Hawkes Bay I grew up in Wellington, and spent my 40 years of married life in Rotorua.

[OdariArt]

Amazing video! I'm from the US and I have a friend that lives in New Zealand. Schools in the States don't teach history like this. I can't wait to see part 2.

[allancaples]

Thankyou. Im a proud New Zealander and appreciate the effort you have made to produce this video.

[jasontempest]

I've been all over this world, more than 40 countries on every continent except Africa and Antarctica and yet I've never been next door, to New Zealand. Thank you for your presentation of this amazing country.

[SamaraTaylor-txgr]

Just can’t get enough of these videos of Newm Zealand. The history of which I know backwards and which I’m one of 6 generations.
This is realy cool! Thanks for your work!

[willienortje]

I am a South African, visit New Zealand 2 months ago, my children and grandchildren have been living there for 4 years, what a beautiful country and we fell in love with it, will visit it very soon again

[kolppi]

My fascination for New Zealand drove me to watch this video and it is very informative and well done! Cheers from Finland.

[lourdesmeyreles]

Wonderful! Well documented and excellently summarized and narrated. Oibjective and scientufic. Thank you!

[jenniferfulford]

Such an exquisitely beautiful county. We had a holiday there 4 years ago and fell in love with it. Two Aussies 🇦🇺

[TeHokioi]

Thanks for the video, always cool to see us getting the spotlight! Just a couple minor things I noticed which might be useful for the follow up video - Māori words don't use the -s suffix for plurals, so we just say "met with a group of Māori" or "Māori people", it's generally good practice to avoid "Maoris" if possible as that has some unfortunate connotations here! Also we use definite articles for the two main islands, so it's always "most of the conflict was in the North Island" and not "most of the conflict was on North Island". This isn't to take away from any of the video, it's a pretty good overview and the pronunciation isn't too bad in the scheme of things so good job on that!

[trevorturner]

Usually an internet presentation of our country gets so many things wrong. This one is one of the best I have seen. The Maori words in this video are often pronounced incorrectly but the content was good. There are tools to help you with Te Reo (the language) if you want to do a better job.

[slamtilt]

I remember in High school I had to give a report on the history of New Zealand. It's not an easy thing to do in 20 minutes. I had to breeze through so much that it could've easily gone hours. So I think given the time frame of this video and how much it covers. You've created a good primer to pique the interest of others to look further into the history.

[bingleification]

Great video, my ancestors came here as ex convicts that had completed their time in Sydney and Tasmania. One brother on my dad's side married into northland Maori and the other ended up in the south island gold rush. I love my/our history and the multi cultural advances we are implementing now and always proud when I see us in a documentary like this. Can't wait for episode 2..many thanks

[simplypractical]

Thank you for this first video which was so beautifully done. Can't wait to watch the next instalments.

[Chris-NZ]

One of the best presentations I have seen. I wasn’t aware that the US had failed to condemn the French act of terrorism and now with China making moves into the Pacific we are suddenly their besties . Looking forward to your part 2. Cheers from NZ 😀

[Hotsmoke]

An absolutely excellent video on the history of the country I grew up in and now reside today. I’ve subscribed and recently been enjoying your other great videos. Keep up the great work

[amct]

What a great short form history, and a much better narative than I got in school in NZ. My parents arrived from the UK in the late fifties. From working class backgrounds they were looking for a better life. They were able to acheive it and I and my brothers and sister grew up in a 1/4 acre suburban house. At the time Kiwis called our country Godsown. Short for God's own country. It will always be my spiritual home.

[dianaholvik]

Expat Kiwi here, living in Canada now. Left NZ as a teen with my family, in the 1960s. It's good to get this nutshell of NZ. I have many memories of NZ. We had a 1000 acre sheep ranch/station in the Tararuras back in the day. I am 5th generation Kiwi in some branches of my family. Thank you for this brief history. I married a Norwegian. One of our kids married into a Dutch family. I am amazed at how we come from both ends of the world. I have noticed in other documentaries that Maori words are pronounced much more correctly now than they were when I was a kid. I love the Maori culture and history even though, as far as I know, I don't have any Maori in me. Kia ora.