The ancestors of the Māori sailed to Aotearoa/ New Zealand, “the land of the long white cloud,” from Eastern Polynesia, between 1250 and 1300 CE. They had inhabited the North and South Islands of present-day New Zealand for at least three centuries before the coming of Dutch seafarer and explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. Over the years, Māori society has successfully integrated elements from different cultures, surviving the Musket Wars and the New Zealand Wars, resisting land theft, displacement, and the devastating impact of European-imported diseases.
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