New Zealand
Where is it?
• New Zealand is a country in the south-western
Pacific Ocean.
• It is located about 2000 km from Australia, in
between Australia and South America.
• It is made up of two main islands, the North
Island and the South Island, and many smaller
islands nearby.
• In total size it is a little bigger than 陕西 (shan3xi1)
province, although it has only one tenth of the
population. (Shanxi = about 40 million, New
Zealand = about 4 million).
What’s it like there?
• The South Island is larger than the North
Island, but has less people living on it, because
it is very wild, and has many mountains.
• Most of the population live on the North
Island, where the land is a bit flatter, although
the North Island is also famous for it’s
volcanoes.
• The capital city of New Zealand is called
Wellington, and it is located at the bottom of
the North Island
• text(1) pg4
Milford Sound
Who Lives There?
• New Zealand is mostly made up of white
people of European origin, about 80%, but
also has the descendants of the native island
people, the Maoris, who make up about 15%
of the population.
• New Zealand also has a large Asian population,
and many island people from the surrounding
Pacific ocean islands live there.
• People from New Zealand are called Kiwis.
• People from New Zealand are called Kiwis
because of a strange bird that is only found
there, called the Kiwi.
• It is small and cannot fly, because it has no
wings. text(2)pg4
History
• The first people to live in New Zealand were
island people from Polynesia.
• The Polynesians originally came from the
mainland of Asia, and spread out through the
islands of the Pacific Ocean around 2000 years
ago.
• Polynesian people descended from them
today live in a large area in the Pacific Ocean,
and they have similar culture and language.
Polynesians
• The Polynesians were very skilled at navigating
(finding their way) at sea.
• These skills allowed them to travel long
distances over the ocean, and to spread out to
very isolated places, such as Hawaii and Easter
Island, and also to New Zealand.
• There is some evidence to suggest that they
even travelled as far as South America.
• The vegetable sweet potato (gan1shu3) first
came from South America, but has been
grown in the polynesian islands for over a
thousand years.
• This suggests that someone brought sweet
potatoes from South America to Polynesia.
• This would have been a very difficult voyage
to make in a canoe, many thousands of
kilometres, demonstrating the sailing skills of
the polynesians.
• Some people have suggested that it was the
South Americans who took the sweet potato
to Polynesia, and that they also had a strong
effect on polynesian culture.
• Although most scientists think this is wrong,
one famous man from Norway called Thor
Heyerdahl tried to prove it.
• He made a raft using ancient South American
methods, and with some of his friends sailed it
from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands in Polynesia.
• The journey took about three months, and
they travelled about 8000 kilometres.
• The raft eventually crashed on a reef near the
islands, but all of the men got to shore safely.
• Thor Heyerdahl wrote a book about the
expedition called Kon-tiki: Across the Pacific in
a Raft.
• text(3) pg10
Captain Cook
• Even though he was not the first explorer from
Europe to discover these places, Captain Cook
is important to the history of countries like
New Zealand and Australia because he
claimed them for the British.
• This meant that they became British colonies,
and adopted many of the customs and social
habits of the British.
• Cook made 3 voyages, and explored Australia,
New Zealand, parts of North America, and
Polynesia.
• Captain Cook died on his third voyage, when
he was killed by the native people of Hawaii.
• Once New Zealand had been mapped by
Captain Cook, it was visited often by European
and North American whaling, sealing and
trading ships.
• Whaling ships travelled all over the world
hunting whales, because the oil from there
bodies was valuable, and was used as a fuel
for lamps and candles.
• Sealers hunted seals for their skins, as the fur
was used to make clothing.
• Christian missionaries also settled in New
Zealand, converting most of the maoris to
Christianity.
• Missionaries are important to the history of
many countries, because they try to change
the religion and culture of the society they are
visiting.
• In the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples to go out
and convert people to Christianity, so many
Christians believe that it is their job to
convince as many people as possible to
convert to Christianty.
• This also means the missionaries tried to
change the customs of people if they thought
that they were doing things which the Bible
was against. eg. not wearing any clothes.
Treaty of Waitangi
• In the early 19 century, the British started to
th
get worried by the fact that the European
settlements in New Zealand were becoming
dangerous, and the French were becoming
interested in New Zealand.
• The French had many settlements in
Polynesia, often made up of missionaries
trying to convert the polynesians to
christianity.
• Today these places form French Polynesia, a
number of islands such as Tahiti which are still
French territory.
• The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement
between the British Government and the
Maori natives of New Zealand.
• It gave the Maori people rights as british
subjects, and the ownership of land, but
meant that the British were in charge of the
country.
• It was signed by many Maori chiefs in 1840,
but the meaning of the treaty was not clear in
some parts, and so even today there is
disagreement about what it means, and its
importance to the government of New
Zealand.
• Before the treaty of Waitangi was signed,
there were many wars between different
Maori tribes, which were made worse by the
guns that the maoris bought from European
and American traders.
• After the treaty was signed, even more maoris
died from diseases such as smallpox and
measles, which the native people caught off
the settlers.
• By 1900, the population of maoris in New
Zealand was only a third of what it had been
60 years earlier.
Land Wars
• The Treaty of Waitangi was supposed to make
sure that the land owned by the maoris was
not lost to foreign settlers, but the
government did not enforce the rules very
strictly.
• Many maoris got angry, and there were
several wars between maoris and British
soldiers and settlers.
• The British had good soldiers, but the maoris
were also trained as warriors, and so the wars
were very fierce.
• Eventually, the British won, mainly because
their army was made up of professional
soldiers.
• The Maori warriors could not look after their
families and farms while they were fighting,
and so eventually they had to quit.
• As a result of the wars, in 1863 the British
government confiscated large amounts of
maori land, severely affecting the maori tribes
who lived there.
Government
• By this time the Government of New Zealand
had been officially formed, giving New
Zealanders the right to vote.
• In 1863, the capital was moved from
Auckland, the largest city, to Wellington.
• In 1893 New Zealand became the first country
in the world to give women the right to vote,
and in 1947 it was officially made an
independent member of the British
Commonwealth.
Political System
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• Like other countries we looked at such as
Britain and Australia, the political system in
New Zealand has two main parties.
• The National Party in New Zealand is similar to
the Conservative Party in Britain, and the
Liberal Party in Australia.
• It is more interested in economic issues and
business success.
• The other main party is the Labour Party,
which Australia and Britain also have.
• It is more interested in the rights of workers
and everyday people.
• The Green Party is also an important part of
New Zealand’s politics, even though it is small
compared to the two main parties.
• It is mainly concerned with environmental
issues, which are very important to the New
Zealand people.
Foreign Relations and Trade
• New Zealand supports environmental
protection, free trade and human rights, and
these things affect its foreign relations.
• International trade is very important to the
economy of New Zealand, because of it’s small
population.
• text(6)pg25
• New Zealand’s commitment to the
environment has affected its relations with
some countries, especially the US and France.
• New Zealand was part of the ANZUS treaty
with Australia and the United States, which
was concerned with military issues.
• This meant that after the Second World War,
and during the Vietnam War, New Zealand
and the US had very strong military
connections.
• However, as the people of New Zealand
became more concerned with environmental
issues, this relationship became troubled.
• The main problem was with Nuclear power
and weapons.
• The French government had been testing
nuclear weapons on some islands in the
Pacific Ocean for many years, and the New
Zealanders did not like that because they were
against nuclear weapons, and they were
worried that the ocean near their home would
become polluted by radioactive materials.
• The environmental group Greenpeace had
been protesting against the French nuclear
testing in the Pacific, and in 1985, the French
government decided to bomb a Greenpeace
ship which was in New Zealand.
• French secret agents blew up the ship, and
one man died, and the two french agents
were caught and put into prison.
• New Zealanders were very angry with France
about the bombing, and also with other
countries like the US who did not support
them.
• In 1987, New Zealand became a nuclear free
zone.
• This means that no nuclear weapons or
nuclear materials are allowed on New
Zealand territory.
• Because the US military uses nuclear powered
submarines and ships, they could not enter
New Zealand waters, and so the ANZUS treaty
was suspended by the Americans.
Economy
• New Zealand has a successful economy, which
supports a good standard of living for people
living there.
• Farming produces a lot of New Zealand’s
exports.
• text(7)pg24
• text(8)pg22
• New Zealand’s natural energy resources help
to make the economy successful.
• text(9)pg24
Culture
• Most New Zealand culture is derived from the
British, and their colonisation, so the society is
like Australia in many ways.
• However, the British ways have been
influenced by the strong maori culture, even
though they are only a minority of the
population, and the cultures of other people
who have moved to New Zealand.
• So the language that most people in New
Zealand speak is English, but more and more
people, especially maoris, want to learn the
native maori language.
• These days, there are maori schools where
children can learn the maori language by using
it every day, and maori language television
stations.
• Traditional maori culture can also be seen in
the close relationships between extended
family, as in other native people who come
from tribal backgrounds.
• Tribal maori tattoos, such as as those on the
face, can also be seen today.
Sport
• Like Australia, sports popular in New Zealand
came from the UK, especially rugby union and
cricket, the two most popular sports in New
Zealand.
• Traditional maori culture can be seen at the
start of rugby union games against other
countries, when the New Zealand players
perform the haka, a maori dance.