New Zealand was one of the last habitable land masses in the world to be settled. Archaeological records indicate that the country received its first set of East Polynesian migrants at around 1250-1300 AD, well before European colonisers set sights onto this stretch of the Pacific.
First arrivals
The ancestors of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people are said to have arrived from an East Polynesian region known as Hawaiki. But historians and archaeologists believe that the country’s original migrants came from several locations – DNA evidence indicates that the first round of settlers arrived from places like Society Island and Cook Islands.
In Maori tradition, Kupe was the first navigator to reach New Zealand’s shores. Tribal narratives tell us that, after several challenges, battles and memorable feats, Kupe successfully managed to fend off his enemies to cross the Cook Strait and arrive to the North Island (then dubbed Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud).
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