New Zealand History
A Brief Introduction

This New Zealand History is not going to be an intellectual incision into the past. That I will leave to Historians. This is a holiday guide to New Zealand... So the history of New Zealand I tell, is one that gives visitors and travellers a bit of background.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying history isn’t important (Simon Schama and Niall Ferguson take note!) it’s just that this is the Complete New Zealand Holiday Guide, after all. The emphasis is on holiday.

New Zealand history begins with etymology. Not to be confused with entomology which is the study of insects, etymology is the study of the origin and development of words.

At first we have Aotearoa and until the early 20th Century it was one of the Maori names for the North Island. Now of course, it's more commonly used to describe the country as a whole.

Before Europeans arrived the Maori referred to the North Island as Te Ika a Māui (the fish of Māui) and the South Island as Te Wai Pounamu (waters of greenstone) or Te Waka o Aoraki (the canoe of Aoraki). In general, Historians believe the Maori, because their tribal history means they were more likely to name individual elements of their surroundings, rather than have collective names for areas.

So where do the words New Zealand come from then? The accepted story is that Abel Tasman popped in to say "Hi" around 1642 and before beating a hasty retreat, called the islands "Staten Landt".

An entry in his journal for the 19th December 1642 reads: "This Land is the second land that is sailed to and discovered by us this Land we have given the name of Staten landt in honour of the High and Mighty states [General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands] because it could well be, that this land would be joined to the state Landt, [i.e. at the southern tip of South America] …"

Well how wrong was he! South America indeed, you’ve got to row 6,000 kilometres east of New Zealand to hit that piece of land! Abel should have had his hand on our handy New Zealand Facts!

Abel thus returns to Holland at some point because by 1645 a dutch cartographer name unknown (perhaps Johan Blaeu?) is calling this new found country Nova Zeelandia. This name is derived from the Dutch province Zeeland. The imaginative and boldly named new sea land. Too much Jenever perhaps? Either that or the King was flexing his cortex that day.. who knows?

But time has worn both Aotearoa and New Zealand well. Aotearoa conjures up this land of the long white cloud and a history full of a country discovered, drama and mythological beauty.

New Zealand has imprinted itself indelibly on the world stage with its individualism, heroism, world firsts and preservation of its natural resources.

Of course the two names are bound up in each other and that is what makes for a country quite unique. That is the beginning of New Zealand history.

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