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Aotearoa Music Award For Best Roots Album
''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori language, Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori people, Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South Island"). In the pre-European era, Māori did not have one name for the country as a whole. Several meanings for Aotearoa have been proposed for the name; the most popular translation usually given is "land of the long white cloud", or variations thereof. This refers to the cloud formations which helped early Polynesians, Polynesian navigators find the country. Beginning in the late 20th century, ''Aotearoa'' has become widespread in the bilingual names of national organisations and institutions. Since the 1990s, it has been customary for particular parties to sing the New Zealand national anthem, "God Defend New Zealand" (or "Aotearoa"), in both Māori and English, exposing the name to a wider audience. Ne ...
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Māori Language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian, it gained recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987. The number of speakers of the language has declined sharply since 1945, but a Māori-language revitalisation effort has slowed the decline. The 2018 New Zealand census reported that about 186,000 people, or 4.0% of the New Zealand population, could hold a conversation in Māori about everyday things. , 55% of Māori adults reported some knowledge of the language; of these, 64% use Māori at home and around 50,000 people can speak the language "very well" or "well". The Māori language did not have an indigenous writing system. Missionaries arriving from about 1814, such as Thomas Kendall, learned to speak Māori, and introduced the Latin alphabet. In 1 ...
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The Encyclopedia Of New Zealand
''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' is an online encyclopedia established in 2001 by the New Zealand Government's Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The web-based content was developed in stages over the next several years; the first sections were published in 2005, and the last in 2014 marking its completion. ''Te Ara'' means "the pathway" in the Māori language, and contains over three million words in articles from over 450 authors. Over 30,000 images and video clips are included from thousands of contributors. History New Zealand's first recognisable encyclopedia was ''The Cyclopedia of New Zealand'', a commercial venture compiled and published between 1897 and 1908 in which businesses or people usually paid to be covered. In 1966 the New Zealand Government published '' An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'', its first official encyclopedia, in three volumes. Although now superseded by ''Te Ara'', its historical importance led to its inclusion as a separate digital res ...
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Polynesian Society
The Polynesian Society is a non-profit organisation based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, dedicated to the scholarly study of the history, ethnography, and mythology of Oceania. History The society was co-founded in 1892 by Percy Smith and Edward Tregear, largely in response to a conviction, widely held at the time, that the Māori and other Polynesian peoples were a dying race. Smith and his friends hoped that it would help to preserve the traditional lore of the Māori before it disappeared and provide scholars with a forum for learned discussion of their ethnographic research (Byrnes 2006). The initial membership of the society was 112, which had grown to 1,300 by 1965. Presidents have included bishops H. W. and W. L. Williams; James Pope, Edward Tregear, Percy Smith, Elsdon Best, William Skinner, Sir Āpirana Ngata, Harry Skinner, J. M. McEwen, Professor Sir Hugh Kawharu and Dame Joan Metge. The present president is Dr Richard Benton. Until her death in ...
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Kupe
Kupe ( ~1180-1320) was a legendary Polynesian explorer, navigator and great rangatira of Hawaiki, who is said to have been the first human to discover New Zealand. Whether Kupe existed historically is likely but difficult to confirm. He is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, and probably spoke a proto-Māori language similar to Cook Islands Māori or Tahitian. His voyage to New Zealand would ensure that the land would be known to the Polynesians, and he would therefore be responsible for the genesis of Māori civilisation. Kupe features prominently in the mythology and oral history of some Māori iwi (tribes), but the details of his life differ between iwi. Various legends and histories describe Kupe's extensive involvement in the settlement of Aotearoa, around 1000–1300 CE, with many talking of his achievements, such as the hunting and destruction of the great octopus, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi. Time of arrival Estimates of ...
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Waka (canoe)
Waka () are Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes (''waka tīwai'') used for fishing and river travel to large, decorated war canoes (''waka taua'') up to long. The earliest remains of a canoe in New Zealand were found near the Anaweka estuary in a remote part of the Tasman District and radiocarbon-dated to about 1400. The canoe was constructed in New Zealand, but was a sophisticated canoe, compatible with the style of other Polynesian voyaging canoes at that time. Since the 1970s about eight large double-hulled canoes of about 20 metres have been constructed for oceanic voyaging to other parts of the Pacific. They are made of a blend of modern and traditional materials, incorporating features from ancient Melanesia, as well as Polynesia. Waka taua (war canoes) ''Waka taua'' (in Māori, ''waka'' means "canoe" and ''taua'' means "army" or "war party") are large canoes manned by up to 80 paddlers and are up to in length. Large waka, ...
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Pākehā
Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Zealander. Papa'a has a similar meaning in Cook Islands Māori. Historically before the arrival of other ethnic groups the word Māori meant 'ordinary' or 'normal'. The arrival of Europeans led to the formation of a new term to distinguish the self-regarded 'ordinary' or 'normal' Māori from the new arrivals. The etymology of the word ''Pākehā'' remains unclear, but the term was in use by the late-18th century. In December 1814 the Māori children at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands were "no less eager to see the ''packaha'' than the grown folks". In Māori, plural noun-phrases of the term include (the definite article) and (the indefinite article). When the word was first adopted into English, the usual plural was 'Pakehas'. However, spe ...
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William Pember Reeves
William Pember Reeves (10 February 1857 – 16 May 1932) was a New Zealand politician, cricketer, historian and poet who promoted social reform. Early life and career Reeves's parents were William Reeves, who was a journalist and politician, and Ellen Reeves, ''née'' Pember. They had migrated from Britain to Canterbury Province in 1857, arriving three weeks before he was born. He was educated at a private prep school in Christchurch, the local high school and, from 1867 to 1874, Christ's College Grammar School. Before entering politics, Reeves was a lawyer and journalist. He was editor of the ''Canterbury Times'' in 1885 and the ''Lyttelton Times'' (1889–1891). Cricket Reeves played in five first-class cricket matches for Canterbury from 1879 to 1888. A batsman, his highest score was 54, Canterbury's top score in the match, when Canterbury beat Otago by four runs in February 1883. Political career Reeves represented the Christchurch electorate of St Albans in ...
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Thomas Henry Smith (poet)
Thomas Henry Smith (22 November 1824 – 23 September 1907) of Auckland was an English-born New Zealand Native Land Court Judge and poet. He is best known for the Māori language translation of "God Defend New Zealand", one of the two national anthems of New Zealand, which he wrote at the request of Governor George Edward Grey. Early life Smith was born at Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. After his formal education he worked at a Land Surveying and Architecture office in Romford, Essex. In 1842, he went to New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ... after being offered a cadetship by the New Zealand Company's surveying staff. References 1824 births 1907 deaths Māori Land Court judges 19th-century New Zealand poets 20th-century New Zealand poets ...
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Thomas Bracken
Thomas Bracken (c. December 1843 – 16 February 1898) was an Irish-born New Zealand poet, journalist and politician. He wrote "God Defend New Zealand", one of the two national anthems of New Zealand, and was the first person to publish the phrase "God's Own Country" as applied to New Zealand. He also won the Otago Caledonian Society's prize for poetry. His mother Margaret died in 1846 and his father Thomas in 1852. He was sent to Australia at the age of 12 to join his uncle, John Kiernan, at Geelong, Victoria. Bracken was apprenticed to a pharmacist in Bendigo, later moved around to work on farms as a shearer and drover, and for a time was a gold fossicker and store keeper. At that time he began writing tales over the activities of the diggers involved in the goldrush, and about stock men and sheep men. He also established Thomas Bracken and Co with Alexander Bathgate to buy and operate the ''Evening Herald'' until it was superseded in 1890 by the liberal ''Globe''. Litera ...
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Newsroom (website)
''Newsroom'' is a New Zealand-based online news publication. It focuses on New Zealand politics, current affairs and social issues. The site is currently co-edited by Tim Murphy and Mark Jennings. History Launch The site launched on 13 March 2017 with a promise to cover "the things that matter" and the hope of being a "New Zealand version of ''The Guardian''". ''Newsroom'''s initial funding had come from four "foundation sponsors", which included the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington. The site launched with a group of 16 writers. The site was founded by Tim Murphy, the former editor in chief of the ''New Zealand Herald'', and Mark Jennings, former head of news and current affairs at Newshub. Its first scoop accused an egg supplier of passing off caged eggs as free-range. Prior to 2017, Newsroom was an unrelated web site established in the 1990s that aggregated breaking news and press releases. New Zealand general election, 2017 ''Newsroom'' brok ...
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Tāwhiao
Tāwhiao (Tūkāroto Matutaera Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Tāwhiao; c. 1822 – 26 August 1894) was leader of the Waikato tribes, the second Māori King, and a religious figure. He was a member of the Ngati Mahuta (Hapū) of Waikato. Biography Tāwhiao's father, Te Wherowhero, was the leader of the Waikato people, and his mother, Whakaawi, was Te Wherowhero's senior wife. He was born around 1822. After the Waikato were defeated by musket-armed Ngāpuhi led by Hongi Hika in a battle at Matakitaki (Pirongia) in 1822, they retreated to Orongokoekoea Pā, in what is now the King Country, and lived there for several years. Tāwhiao was born at Orongokoekoea in about 1825 and was named Tūkāroto to commemorate, it is said, his father's stand at Matakitaki. Tūkāroto was later baptised Matutaera (Methuselah) by Anglican missionary Robert Burrows, but repudiated it in 1867. Te Ua Haumēne, the Hauhau prophet, gave him the name Tāwhiao in 1864. Tāwhiao was raised by his mother's pa ...
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Mana
According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being a source of power. It is an intentional force. In the 19th century, scholars compared ''mana'' to similar concepts such as the ''orenda'' of the Iroquois Indians and theorized that ''mana'' was a universal phenomenon that explained the origin of religions. ''Mana'' is not universal to all of Melanesia. Etymology The reconstructed Proto-Oceanic word "mana" is thought to have referred to "powerful forces of nature such as thunder and storm winds" rather than supernatural power. That meaning became detached as the Oceanic-speaking peoples spread eastward and the word started to refer to unseen supernatural powers. Polynesian culture ''Mana'' is a foundation of Polynesian theology, a spiritual quality with a supernatural origin and a sacr ...
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