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New Zealand

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Part of the book series: The Statesman’s Yearbook ((SYBK))

Abstract

The earliest settlers of New Zealand are thought to have originated from eastern Polynesia, around the turn of the first millennium though some estimates suggest as early as AD 650 or as late as 1400. Maori oral traditions point to discovery of the country by Kupe, who gave New Zealand its first name, Aotearoa, or ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. Oral tradition also refers to seven waka leaving a homeland known as Hawaiiki in a Great Fleet. The waka are still remembered in the names of significant tribal groupings and descent lines: Aotea, Kurahaupo, Mataatua, Tainui, Takitimu, Te Arawa, and Tokomaru.

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Further Reading

  • Statistics New Zealand. New Zealand Official Yearbook.Key Statistics: a Monthly Abstract of Statistics.Profile of New Zealand.

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  • Belich, James, Making Peoples: a History of the New Zealanders from Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth century. London, 1997.—Paradise Reforged: A History of New Zealanders from the 1880s to the Year 2000. London, 2002

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  • Harland, B., On Our Own: New Zealand in a Tripolar World. Victoria Univ. Press, 1992

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  • Harris, P. and Levine, S. (eds.) The New Zealand Politics Source Book. 2nd ed. Palmerston North, 1994

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  • Massey, P., New Zealand: Market Liberalization in a Developed Economy. London, 1995

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  • Mein Smith, Philippa, A Concise History of New Zealand. CUP, 2005

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  • Miller, Raymond, Political Leadership in New Zealand. Auckland Univ. Press, 2006

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  • Rowe, James E., Economic Development in New Zealand. Ashgate Press, Aldershot, 2005

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  • Sinclair, K. (ed.) The Oxford Illustrated History of New Zealand. 2nd ed. OUP, 1994

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  • For other more specialized titles see under CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT above.

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  • National Statistical Office: Statistics New Zealand, POB 2922, Wellington, 1.

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  • Website: http://www.stats.govt.nz

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Authors

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Barry Turner

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© 2009 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Turner, B. (2009). New Zealand. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook 2010. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-58632-5_235

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