New Zealand History [Introduction]
Kiaora! Haere Mai! Welcome to my next excerpt of the part for all about New Zealand and this one I hope will be as short and brief as possible. I am now going to take you all back in time to learn about New Zealand and the history behind it along with some of the heritages, cultural and other means in this part of the history to make in the books. New Zealand is known for many things in the past for their history yet what you will learn and discover today should excite you and teach you all more about my country and to entice you all to come and visit New Zealand as there’s plenty of acitivities to do depending on the weather and seasons you choose to come and visit. There is also a variety of different foods to try out from many different cultures as New Zealand is a mulit-cultural and multi-diverse country. So, buckle up and let’s read on! New Zealand, Māori Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud), is an island country that is located in the South Pacific Ocean, the southwesternmost part of Polynesia. New Zealand is a remote land—one of the last sizable territories suitable for habitation to be populated and settled—and lies more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Australia, our nearest neighboring neighbour. The country comprises two main islands—the North and the South Island and inside of these two islands are towns and cities (I shall be sharing different parts of each region and more about what they are known for etc in my next few blogs- so stay tuned for it) —With New Zealand, there is a large number of small islands, some of them hundreds of miles from the main group. (Picture of Waikato River, Hamilton, New Zealand) The capital city is Wellington and the largest urban area is Auckland; both are located on the North Island. New Zealand administers the South Pacific island group of Tokelau and claims a section of the Antarctic continent. Niue and the Cook Islands are self-governing states in free association with New Zealand. (New Zealand) New Zealand, there is a land of great contrasts and diversity in everything that you will see and explore. Here you will see many active volcanoes, spectacular caves, deep glacier lakes, verdant valleys, dazzling fjords, long sandy beaches, and the spectacular snowcapped peaks of the Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana on the South Island—all contribute to New Zealand’s scenic beauty. (Image of the Southern Alps) New Zealand also has a unique array of vegetation and animal life, much of which developed during the country’s prolonged isolation. It is the sole home, for example, of the long-beaked, flightless kiwi, the ubiquitous nickname for New Zealanders. (More about how to speak Kiwi Slang in one of my next blogs for you all to read) (Image of the Brown Kiwi) New Zealand was the largest country in Polynesia when it was annexed by Great Britain in 1840. Thereafter it was successively a crown colony, a self-governing colony (1856), and a dominion (1907). By the 1920s it controlled almost all of its internal and external policies, although it did not become fully independent until 1947 when it adopted the Statute of Westminster. It is a member of the Commonwealth. The ascent of Mount Everest by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 was one of the defining moments of the 20th century. “In some ways,” Hillary suggested, “I believe I epitomise the average New Zealander: I have modest abilities, I combine these with a good deal of determination, and I rather like to succeed.” (Note more on Sir Edmund Hillary later on) (Image of Mt. Everest) Despite New Zealand’s isolation, the country has been fully engaged in international affairs since the early 20th century, being an active member of a number of intergovernmental institutions, including the United Nations. It has also participated in several wars, including World Wars I and II. Economically the country was dependent on the export of agricultural products, especially to Great Britain. The entry of Britain into the European Community in the early 1970s, however, forced New Zealand to expand its trade relations with other countries. (A photograph was taken during NZ’s final attack of WWI near Le Quesnoy in France. Photo credit: Alexander Turnbull Library) It also began to develop a much more extensive and varied industrial sector. Tourism has played an increasingly important role in the economy, though this sector has been vulnerable to global financial instability. The social and cultural gap between New Zealand’s two main groups—the indigenous Māori of Polynesian heritage and the colonizers and later immigrants from the British Isles and their descendants—has decreased since the 1970s, though educational and economic differences between the two groups remain. (Māori woman, c. 1890–1920) Immigration from other areas—Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe—has also made a mark, and New Zealand culture today reflects these many influences. Minority rights and race-related issues continue to play an important role in New Zealand politics. Relief of New Zealand (Image of the Kaikōura Ranges) Although New Zealand is small, its geologic history is complex. Land has existed in the vicinity of New Zealand for most of the past 500 million years. The earliest known rocks originated as sedimentary deposits some 545 million to 540 million years ago, at the close of Precambrian time (4.6 billion to 541 million years ago) and the beginning of the Cambrian Period (541 million to 485 million years ago); their source area was probably the continental forelands of Australia and Antarctica, then part of a nearby single supercontinent. Continental drift (the movement of large plates of Earth’s crust) created a distinct island arc and oceanic trench structure by the Carboniferous Period (about 359 to 299 million years ago), when deposition began in the downwards (trenches) of the sedimentary rocks that today make up some three-fourths of New Zealand. (Image From: nationalgeographic.org) This environment lasted about 250 million years and is typified by both downward oceanic sedimentary rocks and terrestrial volcanic rocks. This period was terminated in the west at the beginning of the