Brief Early History of Akaroa, New Zealand - Encircle Photos

Brief Early History of Akaroa, New Zealand

Polynesians arrived in New Zealand aboard a wooden waka (canoe) around 1250 to 1300 AD and then evolved into the Māori culture. Three distinct settlements – Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe and Ngai Tahu – occurred on Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū (The Great Storehouse of Rākaihautū). In 1770, British navigator Captain James Cook spotted the area and named it Banks Island, later corrected to become Banks Peninsula. When it became a British whaling center during the 1830s, the Māori people were ravished by disease and warfare. An atrocious example was the massacre of the Takapuneke settlement at today’s Akaroa in 1830. Treaties were signed and subsequently ignored or nullified. The French and British began colonizing Akaroa in 1840. By the end of the 19th century, the Māori lost most of their land to Europeans.

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Brief Early History of Akaroa, New Zealand

115 Beach Road, Akaroa 7520, New Zealand

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