Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History

A landmark publication, Tangata Whenua portrays the sweep of Maori history from Pacific origins to the twenty-first century. Through narrative and images, it offers a striking overview of the past, grounded in specific localities and histories. Fifteen chapters bring together scholarship in history, archaeology, traditional narratives and oral history. Images from around the country (and from international museums) include taonga and artefacts, early European sketches and paintings along with contemporary artworks, and many photographs from collections and newspapers. Placing Maori at the centre of the country’s story, Tangata Whenua begins in the Pacific and outlines early settlement in New Zealand. A second section covers the period of great change in the nineteenth century, examining how Maori communities were affected by the influx of new technology, religious ideas, trade and literacy. The history then extends forward through the twentieth century - with two world wars, the growth of an urban Maori culture, rising protest, and Treaty claims and settlements. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Maori are drawing on both international connections and their ancestral place in Aotearoa. The ways in which growth and development are interwoven with tension and resistance will be evident in the future as they have been throughout the past.