New Zealanders: Māori and European
New Zealand got its name (originally Nieuw Zeeland) after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman reached its shores in 1642. The early European explorers and others who arrived after Tasman referred to Māori, the indigenous people, as ‘New Zealanders’. Māori at first thought these visitors were ancestors or supernatural beings.
In the 1850s the European population, which was mostly British, increased. The original people then became known as Māori (‘the ordinary or usual people’) and all people living permanently in the country took on the name New Zealanders.
Until about the 1950s most white New Zealanders saw themselves as British, and were proud members of the British Empire. Yet they also believed that people born in New Zealand were likely to be physically stronger and more adaptable than people in Britain. Some poked fun at new arrivals because they seemed timid, or snobbish.
During the 20th century there was a stronger sense of what being a New Zealander meant. Some of the reasons for this were:
- Increasing numbers of people were being born and raised in New Zealand.
- The All Black rugby team beat the British in 1905.
- New Zealand men were seen as unusually strong and courageous. Soldiers started to call themselves ‘Kiwis’.
- Writers began to capture the distinctive New Zealand slang and attitudes.
- Heroes such as Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mt Everest in 1953, represented the tough, modest Kiwi.
From the 1950s onwards, New Zealanders’ view of themselves continued to change:
- The country began to break its ties with Britain.
- People in cities, including women, disliked the male, rugby-and-war image.
- Māori claimed that there were not one but two cultures.
- Immigrants from the Pacific and Asia brought new traditions.
- New Zealanders made their mark in new fields, from movies to fashion to scientific research.
Today there are many ideas about what it is to be a New Zealander.