The Aotearoa History Show - Episode 3 | Early Encounters
Summary
TLDRThe transcript summarizes the early encounters between Māori and European explorers in New Zealand. It describes the first meeting in 1642 between Māori and Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, which ended in violence. Over 100 years later, British explorer James Cook made contact and developed greater cultural understanding through a Tahitian translator. However, Cook also introduced new diseases and sparked the devastating Musket Wars by bringing guns to New Zealand. Missionaries later came, converting some Māori to Christianity but suppressing aspects of Māori culture. By 1840, Māori outnumbered Europeans in NZ 40:1, but a partnership between cultures was disrupted as Europeans came to dominate.
Takeaways
- 😲 In 1642, Abel Tasman was the first European to arrive in New Zealand but his initial encounter with Māori was hostile
- 👥 James Cook later established more peaceful relations between Europeans and Māori in 1769
- 🔫 The introduction of muskets by Europeans contributed to devastating intertribal Māori conflicts dubbed 'the Musket Wars'
- 🥔 Potatoes introduced by Europeans fueled population growth enabling larger war parties during this period
- ☠️ Intertribal conflicts and European diseases caused massive fatalities, killing 10-30% of the Māori population
- ✝️ Missionaries converted some Māori to Christianity but also suppressed Māori culture
- 😷 European ships introduced diseases like tuberculosis and gonorrhea to New Zealand
- 🐖 Pigs, potatoes and other introduced species fundamentally altered traditional Māori lifestyle
- 💰 By the 1840s, Māori were profiting from trade with Europeans and acquiring European technologies
- 🏴 In the next episode, the establishment of New Zealand as a British colony is explained
Q & A
What was the nature of the first encounter between Māori and Europeans?
-The first encounter was hostile. Māori warriors paddled out to challenge Tasman's ships, blowing conch shell trumpets. Tasman's crew responded by firing cannon shots, which the Māori saw as accepting their challenge to battle. Fighting broke out the next day, resulting in deaths on both sides before Tasman sailed away.
How was James Cook's interaction with Māori different from Abel Tasman's?
-Cook came with more peaceful intentions, bringing a Tahitian translator to communicate. There was some trading and learning of each other's cultures. However, there were still misunderstandings and violent incidents between Cook's crew and Māori.
What were some of the major impacts of Europeans on Māori in the early period of contact?
-Europeans introduced new animals, plants, technologies, and diseases to Māori. Pigs, potatoes, metal tools, and muskets had major impacts on Māori lifestyle and warfare. Diseases like syphilis and tuberculosis caused population decline.
What factors contributed to the devastating Musket Wars among Māori tribes?
-The introduction of muskets combined with the increased food production from potatoes allowed tribes to support larger war parties and raids. Old grievances were settled with this new technology, setting off waves of conflict.
What was the role of missionaries in this early contact period?
-Missionaries aimed to convert Māori to Christianity. They had mixed success, but provided literacy education, helped build peace between tribes, and sometimes participated in the musket trade. They also suppressed elements of traditional culture.
How did Māori relate to European traders and settlers prior to 1840?
-There was a two-way exchange happening. Māori encouraged Europeans to live among them, trade with them, and provide technology. Māori were in control, making decisions about where Europeans could live and who they could trade with.
What signs were there that Māori were adopting European technologies in this period?
-Some Māori acquired European ships for trade, started using plows and flour mills, bought shares in sailing vessels. They seemed to be harnessing European tech while retaining control over their own society.
Why didn't the early contact period lead to an equal partnership between Māori and European settlers?
-Within just a couple decades, European settlement and political control increased dramatically. What had been more two-way exchanges eventually turned into colonial domination as the 19th century progressed.
What happened in the encounter between Māori invaders and the Moriori people of the Chatham Islands?
-A Māori war party conquered the Moriori using their muskets, and proceeded to enslave the existing population. The Moriori were a peaceful people unable to resist the armed invaders.
What shift does the next episode suggest is coming in New Zealand history after 1840?
-The script hints that European domination increased, the partnership ended, and New Zealand shifted from independent Māori control into becoming a colony.
Outlines
😯 First Encounter with Europeans
In 1642, Abel Tasman and his crew from the Dutch East India Company arrived in Golden Bay, New Zealand on two large, unfamiliar ships. This was the first encounter between Maori and Europeans. The Maori warriors paddled out to challenge the intruders as per custom. When Tasman's crew responded by firing cannons, the Maori saw it as an act of war. Violent conflict followed over the next two days, resulting in deaths on both sides. This encounter did not have any serious or lasting cultural impact.
🌎 James Cook's Voyages and Early Exchanges
In 1769, the British navigator James Cook arrived in New Zealand on an exploratory scientific mission also aimed at claiming new territory for Britain. With the help of Tahitian navigator Tupaia, Cook traded with Maori, introduced new species, and made territorial claims. There were some violent skirmishes between Cook's crew and Maori. Over three voyages, Cook left a lasting impact through animals, plants, technologies, and diseases exchanged. This set the stage for further European incursions.
🔫 The Musket Wars and Early Colonial Economy
In the 1810s-1830s, Ngapuhi chief Hongi Hika acquired hundreds of muskets from Europeans and waged devastating raids on other tribes, triggering large-scale tribal conflicts known as the Musket Wars. The wars caused massive casualties and disruption. The potato's introduction had also boosted food supplies, enabling larger war parties. Some tribes invited Europeans to live among them to facilitate musket trade and peace deals. By the 1840s, a bustling early colonial economy saw Maori utilising European tech but still largely controlling trade.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡colonization
💡muskets
💡missionaries
💡British colonization
💡Abel Tasman
💡James Cook
💡musket wars
💡technology transfer
💡partnership
💡cultural suppression
Highlights
In 1642, Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, but his initial encounter with Māori did not go well.
Māori had an established protocol for greeting strangers that involved threats and challenges to avoid being seen as weak.
Tasman's crew responded to Māori threats by firing cannons, which Māori interpreted as accepting their challenge to battle.
Tasman's visit had little lasting impact. It was over 100 years before Europeans returned to New Zealand.
James Cook's official mission was scientific, but he also had secret orders to claim new lands for Britain.
Interactions between Cook's crew and Māori were not always peaceful, with shootings and killings on both sides.
Cook introduced new animals, plants and diseases to New Zealand that had a huge impact on Māori society.
The introduction of muskets from Europe helped trigger the devastating Musket Wars between Māori tribes.
The potato's introduction was also a factor, allowing tribes to feed more warriors to keep fighting longer.
The Musket Wars killed up to 30% of Māori and redrew tribal boundaries and alliances.
Some Māori developed closer ties with Europeans, using them to acquire muskets or act as neutral peace negotiators.
Missionaries succeeded in introducing literacy but worked to suppress Māori culture, causing long-term damage.
By the 1840s, Māori were profiting from trade and integrating new technologies, seeming to move towards partnership.
In 1840 Māori still greatly outnumbered Europeans and largely controlled contact and trade.
Over the next 60 years European settlement and authority would come to dominate New Zealand.
Transcripts
in 1642 a group of natty to magical
kitty saw something no Maori had ever
seen before sitting off the coast of
their home in Golden Bay were a pair of
giant triple masted sailing ships they
belonged to the Dutch East India Company
under the command of Abel Tasman tamati
these ships must have seemed bizarre the
people on board looked pretty weird too
pale skin
strange clothes in completely new
technology what happened next is well
let's just say that Maori Party our
relations did not get off to a great
start
I'm Lee madam in mcLaughlin and I'm
William ray welcome to the LT Aurora
history show
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last episode we talked about the
evolution of Maori culture in Altered or
400 years worth of cultural and
technological revolution over those same
four hundred years Europeans were going
through their own revolutions the
Christian reformation the Renaissance
Wars plagues political turmoil a complex
combination of historical forces kicked
off an age of European exploration and
technical logical innovation and
scientific discovery which often went
hand in hand with the colonization
exploitation and oppression of non
Europeans by the time Abel Tasman turned
up a not here door the colonization of
the American continent was well underway
and the Atlantic slave trade has been
running for more than a hundred years
but the Maori who sought hasman ships
arriving on their coastline didn't know
about any of this we should say all we
have to go on for this encounter as
Tesman diary because no oral traditions
of this meeting have survived from the
Maori side so according to Tasman - raka
full of ERT - matically warriors peddled
out to challenge the intruders they
chanted and blew on Twitter today which
are trumpets made from conch shells this
was standard protocol for greeting
strangers make yourself look as
threatening as possible and challenge
the newcomers to a fight so they don't
assume you're an easy target the
newcomers were supposed to respond with
a series of ritual greetings to
establish they came in peace but Tesla's
crew responded by sounding the own
trumpets then firing a blast of fire
smoke from the cannon the Dutch
explorers assumed this was all just a
friendly greeting
they brought their ships closer to shore
hoping they could trade with Maori for
supplies but in the minds of Matthew to
mattock or Kitty the signals were
obvious the strangers had accepted the
challenge the next step was war the next
day another Walker filled with 92 month
ago Kitty warriors attacked a small boat
which was varying people between the two
sailing ships killing four of Tasman
sailors then they seemed to had a fleet
of worker two priests their attack but
the Dutch had powers 90 - matakohe curry
had never seen here's how Tessman
described what happened
eleven Walker swarming with men came
toward us we kept quiet until some of
the first were within shot
we fired one or two shots from the
Gunners room but without effect the Z
hey Maya - and hurt in the largest
Walker one man who stood with a white
flag in his hand so that he fell down
the Walker quickly rode back to shore
and Tesman ship sailed away this was the
first meeting between Marty and
Europeans not exactly the best start but
we have to remember how alien these two
cultures were Maori had no frame of
reference for people outside of New
Zealand it was hard to imagine people
who didn't understand the nuances of
ceremonial warnings in peaceful
greetings so in their context you can
understand why eighty-two matically
responded to the Dutch with violence
Abel Tasman didn't stay in out here or
long he sailed along the west coast of
the North Island and traced a ragged
line on his map he didn't know if what
he'd found was an island or the edge of
a giant continent later a famous map
maker gave a label to that line of coast
Nova Zealandia aka
New Zealand this first encounter seems
like a really big deal from today's
perspective because eventually I'll - I
was colonized by Europeans but really
Tesman visit didn't have any serious
impact on Maori or Europeans he didn't
leave behind any introduced animals or
tools he only interacted with one small
group of Maori and he didn't stick
around long enough for those moldy to
learn anything about the European world
it was more than a hundred years before
Maori saw another European and this was
a totally different story to test men on
October 6th 1769 British Navy lefthand
and James Cook arrived in all Teodoro
aboard a ship the HMS endeavour cook's
official mission was scientific his job
was to explore the Pacific and make
observations of the transit of Venus as
part of a project to work out the
distance from the earth to the Sun but
he had another secret mission many
Europeans thought they must be a giant
continent in the southern hemisphere to
balance out all of the land in the north
you can even see this imaginary
continent marked on old maps as
Terra Australis incognita the unknown
southern land quarks orders were to
discover this unknown land and try to
claim at least part of it for Great
Britain you are with the consent of the
natives to take position of convenient
situations in the country in the name of
the king of Great Britain or if you find
the country uninhibited take position
for his majesty Cook made three voyages
into the Pacific he never managed to
find the great southern continent
because it didn't exist but he did
manage to make the islands of New
Zealand on his first voyage Cooke
recruited a Tahitian chief called true
paya as an expert navigator tip I could
speak to Maori in the own language so he
was often able to negotiate peacefully
with sunlit surf win Lua he have to
organised trading and allowed cooking
his crew to better understand Maori
culture but that does not mean that
Cook's interactions with Marty were
always peaceful the log books and
Diaries of his expeditions described
several shootings of Maori people and
out here or including some fatal
shootings kookiness crew perceived some
of these shootings as self-defense
because they thought Maori were acting
aggressively towards them of course from
a Maori perspective the endeavor started
the aggression by invading their
territory so they were the ones acting
in self-defense some of the shootings
actually didn't have anything to do with
self-defense
sometimes Cook screws shot at Maori
because they thought they were stealing
from them all because they wanted Maori
to stop rowing the worker away from the
ship toward the end of first
voyage he walked up to the top of a hill
in Queen Charlotte Sound raised the
Union Jack and claims possession of the
surrounding area for Great Britain at
the end of his first and second voyage
Cook also wrote reports with details of
New Zealand's natural resources huge
trees which would make good timber to
repair ships flex for making ropes lots
of whales and seals around the coast
these were the first steps towards
British colonisation James Cook's food
trip to New Zealand was his last he was
killed in Hawaii after his crew got into
a dispute with local indigenous people
but he lived the lasting impression on
Altera where
he introduced animals like pigs and ship
rats plants like the potato and the
sailors introduced diseases like
tuberculosis gonorrhea and syphilis if
that was the last interaction Marty had
with Europeans it would still have been
an enormous change pigs and potatoes
became major sources of Chi for Maori
while the new diseases caused
infertility and stillbirth but this was
only the beginning the next major wave
of European visitors began and the 18
teens at first these were well as in
sealers who see that bases along the
coast trading with Maori for supplies
and sometimes offering them work aboard
these ships then the British set up
prison colonies in Australia and from
the 1820s there was a steady stream of
ships carrying potatoes import from hapu
and the bay of islands to hungry
settlers in New South Wales and return
for food MALDI got lots of cool stuff
like middle tools and cotton clothing
and also lots of less cool stuff like
tobacco alcohol and muskets the
introduction of muskets helped trigger
the most devastating series of conflicts
and New Zealand's history the musket was
traditionally Maori Wolfie was
widespread that small-scale the fighting
was hand-to-hand using weapons like
midair Pat so Anthea ha battles usually
involved a few hundred warriors on
either side at most and often ended
without many people being killed the
musket Wars though were very different
they began with the famous Ngapuhi learn
that cedar Hong ichika he was a skilled
diplomat and an astute tactician any of
the ambition to settle old scores with
new technology he bought hundreds of
muskets from European traders and need
thousands of warriors and raids against
his enemies the tribes who knew he get
attacked responded by buying the own
muskets the nature and the accounts on
tribes fear the south who were still
using traditional weapons but before we
get too worked up about muskets let's
acknowledge another big contributor to
the musket wars the potato your average
spud is the original superfood it's
super easy to grow and store and it's
jam-packed with carbohydrates and
micronutrients when
taters were brought to Europe from South
America and the 1500s they ended famines
all across the continent and contributed
to skyrocketing populations in all
Teodoro Maori were quick to replace
kumara with potatoes as their staple
crop kumara might be delicious but they
are tricky to grow in our climate and
they rot quickly unless they're stored
very carefully growing potatoes meant
Marty could feed a lot more warriors and
those warriors could fight for a lot
longer without running out of food in
fact potatoes were so important to Maori
warfare that some historians have
suggested renaming the musket wars as
the potato wars whatever you call them
these wars were devastating in they
spread all over altaira natty sward
traveled cells from Coffea it made war
on the tribes around karpati Wellington
and parts of the South Island Mattie
Tama and natty moo tuna used a European
ship to sail all the way from Wellington
to the Chatham Islands where they
conquered and enslaved the peaceful
moriori people had settled there
hundreds of years earlier the war's only
ended in the late 1830s once all Maori
had access to guns and there were no
more easy victories to behead by the
inner combination of war and introduced
disease had killed somewhere between 10
and 30 percent of the Maori population
the wars redrew the boundaries of tribal
authority and created all kinds of new
alliances and feuds it's hard to
overemphasize how disruptive these wars
were for Maori and part of that
disruption involved a much closer
relationship with Europeans Maori often
encouraged Europeans to live among them
to help them buy muskets sometimes these
were escaped convicts from Australia or
sailors who jump ship to live among
Maori sometimes they were missionaries
missionaries had come to our Teodor to
civilize Mardy by converting them to
Christianity initially Marty were not
particularly keen to convert but the
missionaries did have some successes
Maori were very keen to learn reading
and writing from missionaries hungee he
came in another Ngapuhi donut eater
called Waikato traveled all the way to
the UK to help develop a Maori alphabet
in the first written Dictionary of
Tyrael
most Northland and Latina refused to
convert to Christianity but they still
encouraged missionaries to live with
them so long as they helped buy and
repair guns the missionaries were pretty
uneasy about this particularly when they
saw the enormous death tolls those guns
were inflicting so while some
missionaries participated in the musket
trade some also worked to stop the
bloodshed and they were at least partly
successful the Christian message of
forgiveness offered Maori a way to avoid
the demands of a chav without
diminishing the manor is missionaries
gain status amongst Maori they could be
used as neutral intermediaries to
organize peace deals but missionaries
also did long lasting damage to
traditional Maori culture which they
often described as barbaric or sinful
missionaries two-faced Maori artwork
they chopped the genitals of carvings
and preached against the practice of
Tamil core some modern Maori activists
and academics think Maori were also
totally accepting of taku taku II it's
an umbrella term for lesbian gay trans
and non-binary people until the
machinery steeped in the missionaries
kicked off a long history of suppression
of Maori culture which has only started
to be reversed in recent times but back
then Maori were still in control in 1940
Maori outnumbered parka hair by 40 to 1
I'm latina we're making decisions about
where Parker could live who they traded
with and how they should behave and
after the musket was ended Mari society
started to bounce back trade got more
and more profitable and by the 1840s and
50s those profits were being reinvested
into new technologies like iron plows
and mills for grinding flour some Maori
even bought shares in European ships so
they can make even more profit from
trade some Parker was settling down in
Maori villages and living according to
thickener Maori you could see a future
where Maori were able to harness
European technology on the anton's
a genuine partnership where Europeans
integrated and for Maori societies but
that's not how New Zealand's history
played out over the next 60 years
Europeans would come to dominate all
Tara and Maori would be forced to
integrate into their coal
what started off as a partnership would
soon become a colony in the next episode
we'll see how that process began
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thanks for joining us on the altered or
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