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New Zealand
is one of the most recently settled major land
masses. Polynesian settlers arrived in their waka
some time between the 13th century and the 15th
century to establish the indigenous M?ori culture.
New Zealand's M?ori name, Aotearoa, is usually
translated as "Land of the long white cloud",
reputedly referring to the cloud the explorers
saw on the horizon as they approached. Settlement
of the Chatham Islands to the east of the mainland
produced the Moriori people, but it is disputed
whether they moved there from New Zealand or elsewhere
in Polynesia. Most of New Zealand was divided
into tribal territories called rohe, resources
within which were controlled by an iwi ('nation'
or 'tribe'). M?ori adapted to eating the local
marine resources, flora and fauna for food, hunting
the giant flightless moa (which soon became extinct),
and ate the Polynesian Rat and kumara (sweet potato),
which they introduced to the country.
New Zealand
was initially administered as a part of the colony
of New South Wales, and it became a separate colony
in 1841. The first capital was Okiato or old Russell
in the Bay of Islands but it soon moved to Auckland.
European settlement progressed more rapidly than
anyone anticipated, and settlers soon outnumbered
M?ori. Self-government was granted to the settler
population in 1852. There were political concerns
following the discovery of gold in Central Otago
in 1861 that the South Island would form a separate
colony, so in 1865 the capital was moved to the
more central city of Wellington. New Zealand was
involved in a Constitutional Convention in March
1891 in Sydney, New South Wales, along with the
Australian colonies. This was to consider a potential
constitution for the proposed federation between
all the Australasian colonies. New Zealand lost
interest in joining Australia in a federation
following this convention.
In 1893
New Zealand became the first nation to grant women
the right to vote on the same basis as men; however
women were not eligible to stand for parliament
until 1919.
New Zealand
became an independent dominion on 26 September
1907, by Royal Proclamation. Full independence
was granted by the United Kingdom Parliament with
the Statute of Westminster in 1931; it was taken
up upon the Statute's adoption by the New Zealand
Parliament in 1947. Since then New Zealand has
been a sovereign constitutional monarchy within
the Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1951,
Australia, New Zealand and the United States became
allies with the signing of the ANZUS Treaty. In
1985, New Zealand declared itself a nuclear-free
zone. As a result, US warships could no longer
enter New Zealand ports without declaring themselves
to be free of nuclear weapons or power. As such
a declaration would be against US Government policy,
effectively the ships were banned from New Zealand.
The United States suspended its obligations to
New Zealand under the ANZUS Treaty.
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