Polynesians first discovered New Zealand.
- to find essentially all the islands in the NZ - Hawaii - Rapanui triangle was no mean feat.
Abel J. Tasman was the first European to sight the Islands of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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New Zealand was settled by Polynesians over 700 years ago. The first European explorer to discover New Zealand was Abel Tasman.
The legendary explorer Kupe is generally considered to be the first Polynesian to discover the Islands now called New Zealand.
James Cook did not discover New Zealand, just as he did not discover Australia. New Zealand was discovered by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. Cook circumnavigated New Zealand in 1769. Cook's only discovery of previously unknown lands was Hawaii, which he named the Sandwich Islands.
HMS Endeavour. (Note: James Cook did not discover New Zealand.)
When James Cook first arrived in New Zealand, there were no cities. The indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori, who were the first people there, did not build cities.
Even though the Maoris lived in New Zealand earlier, he was the first European to explore the island.
# Captain Cook didn't discover New Zealand. # Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand. # Captain Cook just mapped and explored it.
The Māori name for New Zealand is 'Aotearoa' meaning 'land of the long white cloud'. The word "Māori" is the name of New Zealand's indigenous people who were the first to discover the land.
Captain Cook did not settle in New Zealand. He made three voyages to the Pacific and visited New Zealand on four separate occasions. He led the first British expedition to discover New Zealand and the first to set foot on new Zealand. Abel Tasman was the first European to sight New Zealand but did not land there. Captain James Cook was the first to circumnavigate and map New Zealand.
The Dutch East India Company.
Australia and New Zealand in ~1522-24