Māori migration to New Zealand

The settlement of New Zealand by Polynesian ancestors of Māori, traditionally dated to around the thirteenth century. It established a distinct society in Aotearoa through voyaging, adaptation, and the development of iwi and hapū.

East Polynesian settlement of the Pacific: The peopling of central and eastern Pacific islands by seafaring communities from western Polynesia. New Zealand settlement was the southernmost extension of East Polynesian expansion.
Waka hourua: A Māori double-hulled voyaging canoe used for ocean travel and transport. Such vessels represent the craft associated with long-distance ancestral voyages.
Māori: The Indigenous Polynesian people of Aotearoa New Zealand, with distinct languages, traditions, and tribal communities. Migration gave rise to the people and society known as Māori.
Kāwhia: A coastal settlement in the Waikato region associated with the Tainui waka and Māori ancestral traditions. Kāwhia illustrates how tribal traditions connect particular places with ancestral arrivals.
Polynesian navigation: The knowledge and techniques Polynesian seafarers used to navigate long ocean voyages without modern instruments. Navigation made deliberate voyaging to remote Aotearoa possible.
Polynesian outlier: An island community culturally Polynesian but geographically outside the main Polynesian triangle. Unlike outlier settlement, migration to Aotearoa extended the Polynesian triangle's southern boundary.
Te reo Māori: The Indigenous Polynesian language of Māori and an official language of New Zealand. The language developed in Aotearoa from its settlers' Polynesian linguistic inheritance.
Tainui waka: A canoe in Māori tradition associated with the migration and settlement of the Tainui people. Its account exemplifies traditions linking voyaging ancestors with regional settlement.
Lapita culture: An archaeological culture known for distinctive pottery and expansion across the western Pacific around 1600–500 BCE. Lapita ancestry lies further back in the migration history that led to Polynesian settlement.
Māori horticulture: The cultivation of crops by Māori, adapted to New Zealand's climates and growing seasons. Cultivation helped transform seasonal arrival into sustained settlement.

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