Brooking T. The History of New Zealand

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

14 The History of New Zealand

tively pacifist society developed in isolation until overrun by invading

Maori (Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga of northern Taranaki) in the 1830s.

Having established themselves in New Zealand, Maori experienced lit-

tle contact with their Polynesian homeland. The so-called mini ice age of

the fourteenth century produced rough seas and adverse wind patterns,

which made return voyaging to Polynesia impossible. Maori society de-

veloped in isolation for over 300 years before Europeans made sustained

contact from

1769.

(The Dutch explorer Abel

Tasman

made fleeting contact

1642,

but this produced little impact, and the iwi or tribe he encountered

seemed to have disappeared by the time of Cook's arrival in

1769.)

Time

apart from the rest of humanity enabled a distinctive Maori culture to

emerge. This is reflected in the terms Maori used to name themselves. The

word Maori means normal, but came into common use only in the nine-

teenth century as a means of distinguishing Maori from Pakeha. Before

that, New Zealand's indigenous people identified themselves by their

tribal or clan (hapu) affiliations. Although Maori retained a language very

close to that of Tahiti and the Cook Islands, they became much more

warlike than the rest of Polynesia, partly as a result of the much harsher

environmental conditions encountered in their new land.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The colder New Zealand climate in which coconut, bananas, and

bread-

fruit would not grow, and where taro

(Colocasia esculent

a) could only be

grown in milder northerly areas, forced the newcomers to become very

competitive as their population grew to around 100,000. Yam (probably

Dioscora

alata)

and gourd (ahure or Lagenaria siceraria), used for storing

water and food, could also be grown only in the north. It took every bit

of 4,000 years of accumulated gardening skills to get them to grow at all.

Little wonder, therefore, that Maori society rapidly became based on com-

peting and hostile clans, or hapu, rather than larger tribes, or iwi. Scholars

such as Angela Ballara have made it clear that these larger units became

much more important after the European intrusion. A very rough com-

parison is to the highlands of Scotland, where fealty to clan determined

political allegiances down to the eighteenth century. Before European ar-

rival a tribe could often be made up of relatively few hapu, but by the

1800s as many as 150 hapu could support the war campaigns organized

by the larger tribal groupings. Hapu, which could be as large as 2,000

persons, were in turn usually based on a few dozen extended families or

whanau.

In this kin-based, tight-knit, and warlike society, genealogy provided

Eastern Polynesians become Maori

the very essence of life. Knowledge of the ancestors and ancestral lands

bound the individual and larger groups to particular stretches of jealously

guarded territory. Land could be claimed by discovery or conquest, but

occupation had to follow for at least three generations to sustain the claim.

This usufructuary system, known as ahi ka (literally, my smoke rises, or

my fires burn over the land), encouraged constant skirmishing in the sum-

mer months. Claims to territory were further strengthened through fre-

quent intermarriage between clans.

The most prized land was rich in seafood (kai

moana),

eels (tuna), and

fish (ika) and was capable of growing the sweet potato or

kumara.

The

kumara could be grown only through sophisticated agricultural practices

that involved warming the ground and stowing seeds in special bell-

shaped chambers. But even Polynesian inventiveness could not cope with

the chilly winters experienced south of Christchurch, halfway down the

South Island. As a result, the Maori population became concentrated in

the North Island.

Despite its huge size relative to the rest of Polynesia, New Zealand's

environment provided, in the words of prehistorian Atholl Anderson, "a

fragile

plenty."

New Zealand could sustain a population of about 100,000

preindustrial people, but only if they managed their food resources with

skill and care. The Australian paleontologist Tim Flannery has shown that

initially Maori, like new settlers everywhere, behaved as

"future

eaters/'

consuming resources at will. By 1500 they had hunted to extinction all 12

species of the easily caught

moa,

a giant, flightless bird up to 10 feet tall,

which provided easy feasting for hungry clans. The Polynesian rat (kiore

Rattus exulans)

and dog (kuri) also wreaked havoc with flightless birds,

of which the new land had many species. Maori worsened these impacts

by reducing seal populations to very low levels and exterminating nearly

40 bird species (about half those known before human arrival), including

the giant, brightly colored

Haast's

eagle. They also accounted for three to

five species of frogs, one bat, and an unknown number of lizard species.

More importantly, they removed about half the original forest cover of

New Zealand. Debate continues on the extent of the Maori impact on

forest destruction, as natural fires, especially those resulting from regular

volcanic activity, also played a part. But there is little doubt that using fire

to hunt moa and to clear forest for swidden agriculture (that is, taking

advantage of the initial soil fertility induced by burning before moving to

new garden sites within three or so years) helped shrink one of the world's

great rain forests to more manageable proportions.

As Atholl Anderson points out, Maori behaved little differently from

any other colonists on first discovering a new land. This interpretation

16 The History of New Zealand

runs counter to the popular romantic portrayal of indigenous peoples as

innately conservationist. Work on the First Nation peoples of North Amer-

ica by contemporary prehistorians like Flannery reveals similar patterns.

But as it became clear that the wealth offered by the land was not limitless,

Maori learnt environmental lessons quite rapidly and from the 1500s de-

veloped elaborate rules concerning resource management. By the time

Europeans had arrived, therefore, they were living in relative harmony

with the natural environment and were applying rahui, or sanctions, to

the harvesting of crops, wild plants, and seafood in an effort to conserve

those resources. Unfortunately, European settlers generally ignored the

environmental lessons learned so carefully by Maori and repeated the

same mistakes all over again. The results were much more destructive

because of the new settlers' greater numbers and their access to more

sophisticated

technology—although

fire would, once again, act as the

great destroyer.

BELIEFS, LORE, AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Like everything else in their world, Maori response to the natural en-

vironment was shaped by a widely shared set of values and beliefs. The

details of traditional stories concerning creation and settlement differed

between iwi. Southern Maori, especially the Ngai Tahu and Waitaha peo-

ples of the South Island, explained their dramatic, mountainous landscape

in terms of wrecked canoes and wandering giants. North Island Maori,

on the other hand, attributed the creation of the land to the forest god

Tane,

who separated the sky father Rangi and the earth mother Papatu-

anuku and so let light into the world. Coastal iwi tended to revere Tan-

garoa, god of the sea, above Tane, who held first place among inland

tribes.

Otherwise mythology is characterized by similarity rather than

dif-

ference. A single language that could be understood by all (despite dia-

lectal differences) helps explain why Maori shared common cultural and

social concepts such as the limits to warfare and obligations to whanau,

hapu, and iwi.

Like many preliterate cultures, Maori society organized itself along hi-

erarchical lines, although even the high-born had to earn mana or prestige

to retain their standing. In a society where status was ascribed on the basis

of family, clan, and tribal affiliation, rather than individual achievement,

genealogy or

whakapapa

was a key concept. Even today the central ques

tion of identification in the Maori world is "who are you?" rather than

"what do you do for a living?" The highest rank in traditional society was

that of

ariki

or chief of a large tribe or alliance of tribes. The chief's position

Eastern Polynesians become Maori 17

depended on his ability to trace his descent via the most senior patriarchal

and matriarchal lines back to the eponymous (or founding) ancestor of

the tribe. As a chief often took more than one wife, descent was counted

through the first wife. Yet an element of meritocracy also operated within

the Maori world, and a leading ariki would have some outstanding

achievement to his credit, most probably a major military success, that

enabled him to win his preeminent rank. Some scholars argue that Maori

society was the most egalitarian in Polynesia, which would explain why

the institution of kingship failed to develop as in Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti, and

Hawaii. The same principles applied to rangatira, or chiefs, who led hapu.

Senior chiefs could be supplanted by chiefs from junior lines who suc-

ceeded in battle or possessed outstanding ability as poets, historians, or

composers of waiata (song). And because Maori rated seniority ahead of

gender difference, women could also hold chiefly rank. In modern par-

lance, Maori culture was ageist rather than sexist.

The rung immediately below the rangatira was occupied by

tohunga—

specialists such as priests, canoe-builders, carvers, poets, and storytellers.

Sometimes these people became more influential than

rangatira,

especially

if they possessed the gift of foresight and could act as seers or could

practice

makutu

or sorcery. Yet it would be wrong to dismiss them as witch

doctors, as they performed a much wider role within Maori society. These

highly ranked individuals worked with the elders or

kaumatua

to run the

everyday affairs of the clan or tribe. One of their responsibilities involved

distributing resources to the heads of whanau for their lifetimes. When the

latter died, these resources, including land, were returned to the com-

munity for redistribution. Persons from junior or teina lines filled the role

of commoners. They constituted the mass of the people, as rangatira made

up only about 1 percent of the population. The bottom rung of society

was occupied by

taurekareka

or slaves, usually war captives.

Conquering tribes humiliated their slaves by forcing men to undertake

women's work in the kumara gardens. Captured warriors also suffered

enormous psychological anguish at being removed from their home ter-

ritories and preferred death to capture. Yet the main fear arising from

battle was the possibility of being cannibalized by one's enemies. Canni-

balism was a rare practice throughout Polynesia, but in Aotearoa/New

Zealand chiefs gained great mana from devouring the eyes and hearts of

their victims: the stars in the night sky were seen as the eyes of slain

chieftains. Acquisition of mana by such extreme methods underscores the

competitive nature of Maori society, far and away the most warlike within

Polynesia. No other Polynesians developed defensive villages or pa to

such a high level, or engaged in warfare on such a grand scale. Kings or

18 The

History

of New Zealand

any other kind of pan-tribal leaders had little chance of emerging in such

a highly competitive culture. Yet there were limits to aggression and, be-

fore European military technology disrupted the balance of power, mili-

tary activity was constrained by the complex lore governing every aspect

of Maori life.

Two key concepts underpinned the worldview held by traditional Maori:

complementarity and reciprocity. These notions have bemused Pakeha

ever since first contact. Whereas Europeans tend to think in opposites such

as male and female, or sacred and profane, ancient Maori believed that

each part of our world is interconnected with and dependent upon every

other part. Consequently, while women were classed as noa (of the earth)

and men as tapu (sacred), women were by no means regarded as inferior.

On the contrary, they were equally as important as men because without

them the human race would not exist. Maori also believed that everything

in the world, including inanimate objects such as stones, possessed a

mauri

or life force and deserved, therefore, to be treated with respect. Such un-

derstanding also had a practical side. In a society without maps, fishing

grounds, eel weirs, and other food resources such as fern-root and berry-

bearing trees could be declared

tapu—placing

them out of bounds to any-

one not connected with a particular clan or tribe. As a result, movement

around the Maori world often became rather convoluted and rarely fol-

lowed straight lines.

This belief in the complementarity and interconnectedness of all things

gave rise to a whole series of complex obligations. For example, one action

must be complemented by an appropriate counteraction. The key Maori

institution of utu, often mistakenly translated as revenge, bears out this

point. The demands of utu meant

that

an act of

hospitality—such

as of-

fering a visitor a

feast—must

be followed by another, preferably grander,

feast. Hospitality was regarded as an obligation to be rendered without

question; little wonder that the Maori language has no word for thank you.

A darker aspect of utu required that an act of ill will or insult, even if

unintended, must be countered by a stronger response. At the mildest

level, this could involve muru or the appropriation and/or vandalizing of

property—coincidentally

a means of redistributing resources. More seri-

ous insults or breaches of accepted codes of behavior required some form

of physical punishment and even the offender's death. Breach of custom,

such as infidelity after marriage, could also be punished by

death—al-

though women below chiefly rank adopted a fairly relaxed attitude to-

ward premarital sex. The most serious form of utu, known as uto, involved

full-scale warfare. This might take years to organize through the building

Eastern Polynesians become Maori 19

of alliances and intermarriage, and it culminated in the unleashing of large

taua, or war parties, on the hapless iwi or hapu who had given offence.

COSMOLOGY AND RELIGION

Aotearoa/New Zealand lacked the elaborate temples and large priestly

castes of other places in Polynesia. Yet this does not mean that Maori were

not religious. Rather, they internalized their religion and possessed an

elaborate mythology that explained everything about the life of the spirit

as well as human existence. When some British colonists dismissed Maori

as basically superstitious, they failed to understand the holistic nature of

their cosmology. Everything in the material world held links to the spir-

itual world (wairua). This linking of the mundane and the supernatural is

not so different from

preindustrial

views within the European world, or

those of First Nation peoples in the United States.

Theologians such as Michael Shiras argue that Maori held a profound

sense of the sacred and knew exactly what the gods expected of them.

Any breach of this relationship could bring disaster, known as hara. The

capsizing of a canoe, drowning, or loss in battle, for example, all reflected

the anger of the gods. Debate continues as to whether Maori believed in

a supreme being sometimes referred to as

Io,

but there is no doubt that

they believed that the nature gods of the forest, sea, wind, agriculture,

and earthquakes determined the fate of every tribe, clan, and individual.

While students of institutions of higher learning known as whare wananga

may have contemplated the existence of Io, all Maori paid close attention

to avoiding angering a host of lesser deities as well as committing dan-

gerous breaches of tapu.

MATERIAL CULTURE AND HEALTH

Despite the admiration expressed by Captain Cook for Maori health

and physical strength and stature (the men averaged about five feet, seven

inches, when the European average was more like five feet, four inches),

life was harsh for early Maori. Soft kumara proved so difficult to grow

that iwi restricted its use to ceremonial occasions. Tough fern root served

as a kind of chewing gum for warriors on long marches. This limited,

hard, and fibrous diet, made more tedious by the lack of moa and seal

meat through overhunting, wore teeth to the gums by age 30. Anatomist

Phillip Houghton estimates that few Maori lived past 30 as result, much

as in preindustrial Europe. On the positive side, after 1600 Maori suffered

20 The History of New Zealand

little from tooth decay, whereas earlier arrivals who feasted on seal and

moa suffered extensive dental caries. Houghton and Atholl Anderson also

suggest that the rigors of long sea voyages triggered the selection in the

Polynesian gene pool of individuals who were bigger, more muscular, and

more athletic than their forebears.

Within their short life span Maori lived relatively healthy lives. Infant

mortality appears to have been quite low, and the average woman gave

birth to about four children. At least three usually made it to adulthood,

a much higher proportion than in preindustrial Europe. Geographical iso-

lation also meant that Maori suffered from relatively few diseases. Colds,

flu, and measles were unknown, as were other great killers such as small-

pox, cholera, and typhoid. Maori did not suffer from any venereal dis-

eases,

and yaws, the great scourge of other Pacific communities, never

found its way to New Zealand. Most Maori died, therefore, in battle or

more commonly from accident or simply from wear and tear. As Alfred

W. Crosby points out in his book

Ecological

Imperialism, such a pathogen

free environment made Maori particularly vulnerable to contact with

groups carrying unfamiliar diseases.

On balance, Maori lived as well as their essentially stone-age technology

allowed. Their canoes could capsize in rough weather, but this did not

stop them from traveling long distances to trade, especially for jade or

pounamu. They worked the inshore fishery with considerable skill, using

large, woven nets and bone fishhooks. Their carving was as elaborate as

their stone adzes allowed, and women developed weaving to high levels

of intricacy. Houses built on pole supports and covered with closely wo-

ven flax provided adequate shelter, even if Europeans found them rather

too smoky for comfort. The elaborate ceremonial meeting places, or

marae,

that are found throughout Polynesia may have developed in Aotearoa

only after European contact. Although the kiore or Polynesian rat thrived

in the thatch-style housing, Maori maintained high levels of hygiene and

paid particular attention to ensuring clean water supplies. Drinking water

could be taken only from upstream sources, with cleaning restricted to

areas downstream of settlements. Human waste was always kept separate

from cooking areas, and Maori buried their dead in distant caves or clearly

demarcated graveyards (urupa).

In short, this adaptable and highly competitive society possessed the

flexibility and capacity for change to cope reasonably well with the large-

scale contact with completely different societies that took place from the

late eighteenth century. They were certainly far better equipped to cope

with the European intrusion than the Aborigines of Australia, who had

inhabited their vast continent for at least 60,000 years with no significant

Eastern Polynesians become Maori 21

cultural change and little concern for the future. The two factors that made

Maori particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of European contact

were lack of political unity and susceptibility to a host of new pathogens

to which they lacked resistance. Yet, as we will see, Maori agency survived

despite the overwhelming numerical and technological superiority of the

European settlers. Although white settlement produced many adverse

consequences, Maori resistance and adaptability ensured that contact could

never be dismissed as a fatal impact.

This page intentionally left blank

Australasian Colony and

an Apprenticeship in Race

Relations,

1792-1840

From the founding of Britain's penal colony in Australia in

1788

down to

1840,

New Zealand developed as an extension of the Australian frontier.

During that time the formerly isolated Maori learned ways of coping with

the European intrusion. During the 1820s crippling disease and musket

wars severely reduced their numbers from around 100,000 to something

like 60,000. Yet, although considerable, the European impact never proved

fatal, as some historians claimed in the 1950s and 1960s. Such population

loss appears relatively modest when compared with the collapse experi-

enced in postconquest Central America (where numbers fell from perhaps

30 million to 2 million within a century), or the drop from perhaps a

million Aborigines to 60,000 within a century in Australia.

Rather than surrendering meekly, after shrugging off the devastating

impact of such diseases as measles and influenza before 1840, Maori set

themselves to make painful adjustments to their rapidly changing world.

They, in turn, influenced the predominantly British and other European

explorers, sealers, whalers, timber workers, missionaries, and settlers with

whom the came into contact. Right from its beginnings, the colonization

of New Zealand was a two-way process, with Maori agency continually

subverting and challenging attempts to impose British authority. Maori

also continued to act out of their own motivation. In the process of pur-