When Worlds Collide: Maori/Pakeha Contact pre-1840.
Two hundred years ago, New Zealand was colonised by a technologically advanced race of aliens: the Pakeha. Absurd though it may seem, these explorers were, in a sense, from another world. Over hundreds of years, the Maori had developed social structures, customs, values and attitudes in isolation, and although there was evidently some contact with other Pacific peoples, little could prepare them for the alien world of the Europeans.Yet this is not to say that the Pakeha came without warning: Europeans had been charting New Zealand waters for well over a hundred years before coming to live alongside Maori. Although successive waves of whalers, traders and missionaries significantly changed Maoridom in just a few decades (e.g, the emergence of a sex industry), it was neither eradicated nor assimilated. Maori-Pakeha contact was a rapid series of events, but not a "fatal impact".The most basic feature of Maori-Pakeha contact was trade. Although trading was at its peak during the 1830's, Maori and Pakeha had begun exchanging goods and services, such as food, fresh water, sex, and metal fish-hooks, at the time of first contact. Europeans wished to harness New Zealand's natura
Many of the homesick and war-weary taureka were drawn to the notion of a "Prince of Peace", and as a result many converted to Christianity. Secondly, Belich argues that muskets of the time were both unpredictable and unwieldy, and that Maori probably used muskets for psychological warfare rather that actual combat. But while the Maori were harvesting heads, the Europeans busied themselves harvesting souls. Consequently, Maori began leading skirmishes against other iwi simply in order to fill the demand for shrunken heads. Firstly, it is likely that the numbers of casualties were inflated by Maori victors and missionaries. Yet ironically, the very slavery condemned by the missionaries was their salvation. As a result of European contact, the motives for inter-tribal warfare had become economic rather than matters of mana and utu. However, it seems that these integrated belief systems tended to occur where Maori missionaries were left to their own devices. From a biological perspective, each iwi adapted out of necessity, in order to survive in the new environment. Belich also cites the Musket Wars as a further example of acculturation, on the grounds that wars continued to be waged according to old social customs, such as utu. l resources, such as whaling for oil, sealing for skins, and timber logging for shipbuilding . Maoridom did not die out: it evolved. Neither did they present a united front to conserve Maoridom.
Common topics in this essay:
Belich Binney,
Prince Peace,
Europeans Pakeha,
Maori Pakeha,
Nga Puhi,
Musket Wars,
Consequently Maori,
Pakeha Absurd,
Secondly Belich,
Europeans Similarly,
musket wars,
fatal impact,
maori-pakeha contact,
examples acculturation,
european contact,
nga puhi,
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Acceptance Essays
