A European outpost This European explosion first impacted on New Zealand in the closing decade of the 18th century when sealers and whalers began to arrive in their hundreds seeking to exploit local resources. They encountered a Maori world. Contact was regional in its nature; many Maori had no contact with Europeans.
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When did sealing start in New Zealand?
As an industry, sealing began in New Zealand in 1791 or 1792 and continued until 1946.
When did sealing become illegal in NZ?
1926
Seals in New Zealand had been hunted to the verge of extinction by 1830 and sealing was outlawed in 1926. Whaling continued and some large land based stations were built. The last station, Perano, closed after the killing of its last whale in December 1964.
Did Maori hunt seals?
Hunting seals
The men would hunt at night, and many slipped on the rocks and drowned. Using clubs, they would quickly kill all the seals in a group. Then they would take off the skins and hang them out to dry.
What did sealers and whalers do?
Sealers and whalers
Sealers produced various charts of the coastline, from sketch maps to details of anchorages. An American sealer, Owen Folger Smith, was the first to chart Foveaux Strait, around 1805. Sealing captains also discovered and charted the subantarctic islands.
Why did missionaries come to New Zealand?
Due to bureaucratic problems, the earliest missionaries arrived in New Zealand at the Bay of Islands in 1814. The mission had two main goals: Christianisation of the Maori people and the attempt to try and keep law and order among the European settlers.
Where did sealers settle in NZ?
In the first two centuries of settlement, Māori were more often seal hunters than moa hunters. There is evidence of extensive sealing in the far north, Coromandel, Taranaki, Cook Strait, the Canterbury coast and the south from Waitaki to Fiordland. However, by the 1700s seals were confined to the far south.
Where did the whalers and sealers come from?
The second group of Europeans to arrive were the sealers and whalers who were first recorded to have visited NZ around 1791. Initially the sealers were the most active but by 1830, with significantly reduced seal numbers, sealing had declined to a low level. Whale oil was a commodity, which was in great demand.
Why did whalers hunt seals?
Australia in the 1800s
In the early 1800s, seals and whales were hunted around the Bass Strait islands. The seals were killed for their fur skins and the huge elephant seals for their oil. Seal fur was very popular in England and China where it was used for boots and clothing.
Can you hunt seals in NZ?
It is an offence under the Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978 to disturb, harass, harm, injure or kill a seal.
What were seal skins used for?
Seal skins have been used by aboriginal people for millennia to make waterproof jackets and boots, and seal fur to make fur coats. Sailors used to have tobacco pouches made from sealskin. Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and Namibia all export sealskin. It was traditionally used to make Scottish sporrans.
When did Māori arrive in NZ?
Māori settlement
The first people to arrive in New Zealand were ancestors of the Māori. The first settlers probably arrived from Polynesia between 1200 and 1300 AD. They discovered New Zealand as they explored the Pacific, navigating by the ocean currents, winds and stars.
What did the musket trade do to Māori people?
The battles resulted in the deaths of between 20,000 and 40,000 people and the enslavement of tens of thousands of Māori and significantly altered the rohe, or tribal territorial boundaries, before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
How long would Whalers spend at sea at a time?
The whaling schooner, the smallest whaler, generally undertook 6-month voyages, while brigs, barks, and ships might be at sea for three or four years.
Why did James Busby Organise the Declaration of Independence?
Busby saw the Declaration as a step towards making New Zealand a British possession. He believed it would ‘be the most effectual mode of making the Country a dependency of the British Empire in everything but the name.
What is the definition of a whaler?
1 : a person or ship engaged in whale fishing. 2 : whaleboat sense 2.
How was Christianity introduced to New Zealand?
The first Christian missionaries to establish permanent ministries arrived in New Zealand at the start of the 19th century.Presbyterianism was brought to New Zealand largely by Scottish settlers. The Māori people also created their own forms of Christianity, with Ratana and Ringatu being the largest.
How did missionaries impact NZ?
The missionary movement had a huge impact on New Zealand, particularly on Māori, whose existing spiritual beliefs were either replaced by or combined with Christian ideas. The missionaries were also largely responsible for introducing Māori to the Western innovations of literacy, agriculture and trade.
Why did Māori adopt Christianity?
Māori Christianity
Traditionally Māori recognised a pantheon of gods and spiritual influences. From the late 1820s Māori transformed their moral practices, religious lives and political thinking, as they made Christianity their own.
What is NZ history?
The history of New Zealand (Aotearoa) dates back to between 1320 and 1350 CE, when the main settlement period started, after it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture.The first European explorer known to visit New Zealand was Dutch navigator Abel Tasman on 13 December 1642.
When did whaling stop in NZ?
1964
New Zealand ceased whaling in 1964, when the Tory Channel station closed. Humpback whales had ceased migrating through Cook Strait and commercial whaling was no longer viable.
