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NEW ZEALAND | Auckland, New Zealand Travel Guide
Saturday, November 30, 2024
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Maoris in Auckland
A Maori chief (c 1784) in Auckland, New Zealand
Maoris in Auckland
Tamaki, the Maori name for the area, means "battle," and is probably a good description of what happened around what is now Auckland. The fertile, low-slung land was no doubt a draw for early settlers, who fiercely battled from their pas (fortified villages). Forty-eight extinct volcanoes – like Mount Eden and One Tree Hill – ring Auckland, and these were natural settlements for the Maori. A walk or cycle up either is a good way to get your bearings and see the pa. They are probably two of the most accessible and easy-to-understand pa sites, or Maori fortified villages, in New Zealand.
When the Europeans arrived, the Maori were still engaged in inter-tribal warfare and presented no organized resistance to the intruders. By the 1840s, the British had acquired most of the land of the Ngati Whatua tribe and settlement began in earnest. Captain William Hobson was New Zealand’s first governor and chose Auckland to be the capital, a title it lost to Wellington in 1865. While Wellington is the political heart, Auckland is the center of commerce and business and New Zealand's most important city.
Last updated May 24, 2011
Posted in New Zealand | Auckland
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