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newzealand.com
New Zealand has a rich and fascinating history, reflecting both our Maori and European heritage.
Amazing Maori historic sites and taonga (treasures), some dating back almost a thousand years, are a contrast to many beautiful colonial buildings. A walk around any New Zealand city today shows what a culturally diverse and fascinating country we have become.
Bravely voyaging across the Pacific from their ancestral homeland hundreds of years ago, Maori made New Zealand their home, becoming the tangata whenua, people of the land.
Though a Dutchman was the first European to sight the land, it was the British who colonised New Zealand, leaving an indelible mark on the country and its people.
In 1840 an agreement between Maori and the British Crown was signed. Though controversial, it is still considered New Zealand's founding document.
New Zealand retained its close colonial ties through the first half of the 20th Century before beginning to branch out. Today New Zealand is very much its own country with a strong and unique national identity.
The legend says the the North Island of New Zealand was once a giant fish, hooked and hauled up by the clever demigod Maui.
By Dalia Jones
By Kirra Holidays