The whence of the Maori

The Polynesians fascinated early European explorers. It was a period in European history when the "Noble Savage" was in vogue. The Polynesians seemed to epitomise everything that philosophers said would exist in a perfect natural world. It was warm, food grew in abundance and they seemed uninhibited about sex. Tahiti proved to be especially popular, with the crews cheerfully exchanging iron for the local pleasures. Sometimes this threatened the safety of the ship as the crew stripped the vessel of nails.

Maori were obviously Polynesian as they spoke a language not terribly dissimilar to the language used in Samoa or Tonga. What the Europeans found difficult to explain was how the had managed to spread across the Pacific despite having little more than a stone age culture. Europeans had only just begun to sail confidently across the oceans, and it was only the advent of reliable chronometers that made navigation easier.

Before this there were a myriad of methods used to estimate longitude, many were fanciful at best, most were downright dangerous. The Spanish had been in the Pacific for several centuries but had little idea just how wide the ocean was because they could only use the time spent and estimates of speed to guess. They had found and lost the Solomons three times in that period!

Cook as mentioned earlier was testing Harrisons H4 chronometer, one of the cabin boys sole duty was to keep the watches wound! The timepieces allowed him to keep his longitude measurements accurate over the many months and years of his voyage. Even today his charts are remarkably accurate.

Europeans had little idea how the Polynesians could have done it themselves.

The presence of the Maori in New Zealand fascinated them. Several bizzare ideas emerged in the 19th century. One believed that Maori were 'Aryan', in fact a lost European people who had somehow wandered off and got lost! This would explan why the Maori were so similar in nature to Europeans and so more advanced than other indigenous peoples (comparisons with the Aboriginals were often made).

The other odd thought was that they were in fact the (lost) 12th tribe of Israel - one of Noahs sons who had somehow also wandered off and gotten lost, only to be rediscovered again on the other side of the world! Bizarre indeed.

There is a form of reverse racism evident here. It was easier to admit the Maori (albeit via side door) into the Europan fold than it was to admit they (Natives!) might be as good (or better?) than them.

Today we know that Maori were the people who populated the last great land mass on earth. They arrived most likely about 750AD in large Waka(canoes) built for long distance voyaging. They had begun their journey in Asia about 2000BC, travelling further eastward driven either by curiosity or overpopulation. As they progressed and distance between islands grew larger, so did their seamnship and quality vessels improved. By about 0AD they were on the fringes of Polynesia and by 1000AD had settled on the three corners of the Polynesian triangle. (Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand).

Andrew Sharpe in (1969?) put forward the idea that this voyaging was accidental and one way. Recent evidence has shown that this was unlikely. David Lewis spent many years in Micronesia and Polynesia studying the old navigators. He also helped with the Hokoleau a waka built in the old style which was successfully sailed across Polynesia, including form Hawaii to New Zealand. The 'Vaka Moana' exhibition at Auckland Museum is well worth a visit for more information.

Thor Heyerdahl postulated in the late 1950's that Polynesia was settled by South American. His raft the Kon Tiki fired peoples imaginations but his idea is generally discredited. The raft was basically unseaworthy especially in comparison to Polynesian waka. It didn't explain how the Kumara arrived in Polynesia from its native Peru. Except that since the trade winds blow east to west it would allow the waka to tack into the wind heading eastward and if nothing was found to simply turn about and allow the wuind to take them home. Crossing the Humboldt current (which the Kon Tiki needed to be towed across) was no great barrier. The Kumara arrived in Polynesia in the 13th or 14th century. (more on that later)

Maori themselves had little or no memory of this by the time Europeans arrived. The Great Fleet story confirmed how they had arrived but little else. Europeans like Percy Smith and Elsdon Best collected many of these stories, and the Fleet myth was created. According to this Maori left Hawaiiki in seven great waka which travelled to New Zealand following in the wake of the explorers Kupe, Toi and Maui. Once here they then travelled around the country laying claim to various parts. Almost every tribe adheres to this and can trace their roots back to one or more of the waka and their captains. My own tribe is affiliated to the waka Mataatua.

The only tribe that does not is the Tuhoe (Children of the Mist) from the Ureweras. I ma not sure what their spirits do after death as all other tribe believed that their spirit travelled north to Cape Reinga and the jumping off point before travelling back to Hawaiiki.

Studies of language have found Hawaiiki is most likely Savaii (in Samoa) but Lapita pottery takes us back towards Asia, as does the fact that Polynesian is an Austronesian language and DNA seems to link Maori to place as far afield as the indigenous people of Taiwan (I'm sure Winston Peters is pleased).

Why had the Maori lost this knowledge? It seems that sometime in the early part of the second millenium the climate changed. In London around 1000AD they grew grapes, but a sudden cooling of the planet (a mini Ice Age) changed all that. In the Pacific a long period of relative calm, with regular trade wnds became less predictable and long distance voyaging decreased. Easter Island,Hawaii and New Zealand became cut off from their brethren. In New Zealand the Polynesians became Maori.