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Te Waka A Māui
''Te Waka a Māui'' (the canoe or vessel of Māui) is a Māori name for the South Island of New Zealand. Some Māori mythology says that it was the vessel which Māui (a demi-god hero, who possessed magic powers) stood on as he hauled up ''Te Ika-a-Māui'' (the fish of Māui – the North Island). There are also stories about other people, Kupe and Toi, who discovered Aotearoa (New Zealand). Māui lived in the Māori ancestral homeland of Hawaiki. One day he hid in the bottom of his brothers' canoe as they went on a long fishing voyage. Māui used his magical powers to increase the distance back to shore so when he was discovered his brothers would not take him back home. When they were far out into the ocean, Māui dropped his magic fishhook over the side of the canoe. He felt a strong tug on the line, too strong to be a normal type of fish. Māui called on his brothers to help. After quite a struggle they pulled up the North Island of New Zealand – which, since that day, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers , making it the world's 12th-largest island. At low altitude, it has an oceanic climate. The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mount Cook at . The high Kaikōura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The main centres are Christchurch and Dunedin. The economy relies on agriculture and fishing, tourism, and general manufacturing and services. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori Mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori tradition concerns more folkloric legends often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in to explain the overall origin of the Māori and their connections to the world which they lived in. Māori had yet to invent a writing system before European contact, beginning in 1769, so they had no method to permanently record their histories, traditions, or mythologies. They relied on oral retellings memorised from generation to generation. The three forms of expression prominent in Māori and Polynesian oral literature are genealogical recital, poetry, and narrative prose. Experts in these subjects were broadly known as . The rituals, beliefs, and ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māui (mythology)
Māui (Maui) is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main exploits remain relatively similar.Craighill Handy 1927: 118 Tales of Māui's exploits and adventures are told throughout most of Polynesia; they can be traced back as far west as islands off New Guinea. Some exploits common to most Polynesian traditions are stealing fire for humans from the underworld, fishing up islands with his magical hook, and capturing the Sun to lengthen the days. There is a great deal of variation in the representations of Māui from nation to nation, from being a handsome young man, to being an old wise wandering priest. Although Māui was said to be very rascally or "kolohe", many of his deeds were to better the lives of his fellow people. He was respected throughout most cultures of the Pacific and still is famous to this day. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Te Ika-a-Māui
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest island. The world's 28th-most-populous island, Te Ika-a-Māui has a population of accounting for approximately % of the total residents of New Zealand. Twelve main urban areas (half of them officially cities) are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangārei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Hastings, Whanganui, Palmerston North, and New Zealand's capital city Wellington, which is located at the south-west tip of the island. Naming and usage Although the island has been known as the North Island for many years, in 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with the South Island, the North Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board officiall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toi (name)
Toi is a fairly common man's name in Māori and other Polynesian languages. The best known men named Toi are the following from Māori legendary history, who are sometimes confused with one another: *Toi-te-huatahi, about whom there are various traditions. In Te Arawa tradition, a chief who never left Hawaiki. In the Ngati Awa tradition, a descendant of the fantail, the original settler of New Zealand. In the discredited 'orthodox' or "Great Fleet" story, a man from Hawaiki who settled at Whakatane after following his grandson Whatonga. *Toi-te-huatahi II, in the discredited Great Fleet story, a man who settled at Whakatāne after following his grandson Whatonga, much later than Toi-te-huatahi I. *Toi-kai-rākau, an ancestor of the Tūhoe tribe. In some traditions, this is an alternative name for Toi-te-huatahi. The descendants of Toi-kai-rākau are named ''Te Tini-a-Toi'' – the many descendants of Toi. In the part of the Bay of Plenty where the ''Mātaatua'' canoe landed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori People
The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori. Initial contact between Māori and Europeans, starting in the 18th century, ranged from beneficial trade to lethal violence; Māori actively adopted many technologies from the newcomers. With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the two cultures coexisted for a generation. Rising tensions over disputed land sales led to conflict in the 1860s, and massive land confiscations, to which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaiki
In Polynesian mythology, (also rendered as in Cook Islands Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories. Anne Salmond states ''Havaii'' is the old name for Raiatea, the homeland of the Māori. When British explorer James Cook first sighted New Zealand in 1769, he had Tupaia on board, a Raiatean navigator and linguist. Cook's arrival seemed to be a confirmation of a prophecy by Toiroa, a priest from Māhia. At Tolaga Bay, Tupaia conversed with the ''tohunga'' associated with the school of learning located there, called Te Rawheoro. The priest asked about the Maori homelands, 'Rangiatea' (Ra'iatea), 'Hawaiki' (Havai'i, the ancient name for Ra'iatea), and 'Tawhiti' (Tahiti). Etymology Linguists have reconstructed the term to Proto- Nuclear Polynesian ''*sawaiki''. The Māori word figures in legends about the arrival of the Māori in A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest island. The world's 28th-most-populous island, Te Ika-a-Māui has a population of accounting for approximately % of the total residents of New Zealand. Twelve main urban areas (half of them officially cities) are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangārei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Hastings, Whanganui, Palmerston North, and New Zealand's capital city Wellington, which is located at the south-west tip of the island. Naming and usage Although the island has been known as the North Island for many years, in 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with the South Island, the North Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board officially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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