Which westerner discovered New Zealand

Answer 1

The land mass now known as New Zealand was first discovered by Polynesian explorers and settled by people we now know as Maori. It was 'discovered' again by Europeans in the eighteenth century. The story of its discovery by Europeans is a relatively simple one, the story of its original discovery by Polynesians rather more complex.

The first European to sight New Zealand was Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman who sailed out of Batavia (Jakarta) with two ships on a mission in search of the Terra Australis Incognita, the undiscovered southern continent that was thought to exist somewhere in the southern part of the Pacific. It was a mission in search of new trading opportunities for the Dutch East India Company. On the 13th of December, 1642 the expedition sighted land at Perpindicular Point, near Punakaiki, on the West Coast of the South Island. Tasman sailed northwards, around Farewell Spit and into Taitapu or Golden Bay, anchoring his ships there on the 18th and here Europeans and Maori 'met' for the first time. Unfortunately, due to communication problems, this encounter between the Tasman expedition and Ngati Tumatakokiri turned into a violent one. Tasman, with orders not to engage in warfare, left without ever setting foot on this new land. He called it Staten Land assuming it to be an extension of the bottom of South America. Later, when this was seen to be clearly wrong, an unknown Dutch cartographer renamed it Nova Zelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland.
Over a century later a Royal Navy expedition commanded by Lieutenant James Cook, having been in Tahiti to observe the transit of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun, headed southward on the second part of its mission which was also to search for the Terra Australis Incognita. On the 8th of October, 1769 Cook's ship Endeavour entered Poverty Bay on the North Island's East Coast and the second encounter between Maori and Europeans took place. Although this meeting also involved violence, far better communication with the local Rongowhakaata Iwi (tribe) was possible due to the the presence on board the Endeavour of a Tahitian named Tupaia and also to Cook's diplomatic attitude toward dealing with non-Europeans. Cook went on to circumnavigate and very accurately map this new country, assembling information on the land and the Maori he interacted with. His reports would greatly interest the authorities back home in Britain.

On the other hand, there is very little that can be said with any certainty about the Polynesian discovery of New Zealand. The common myth is that a Polynesian explorer named Kupe was the first person to discover New zealand and that this occurred probably about 950 AD. Kupe had travelled in his waka (canoe) named Matahorua with his wife and family and possibly accompanied by another waka named Tawirirangi captained by Ngahue. After many trials Kupe saw a great white cloud in the sky signifying that they had finally reached land which he named Aotearoa (the long white cloud). Other Polynesian adventurers, named Toi and Whatonga, followed between 1000 and 1150, and then the great ocean-going waka brought the settlers who would colonise the new land and become the Maori. This, or variations of it, is the myth that has been taught in New Zealand schools since the turn of the 20th century but it has very little basis in fact and is even possibly a largely Pakeha (European) invention as its source is an amateur ethnologist named Stephenson Percy Smith. There may be no actual Maori basis for this myth as there is no early widespread use of the name Kupe or even Aotearoa among Iwi and little consensus on Polynesian discovery. We do know that Polynesian exploration followed a pattern that was deliberate, wide-ranging and two-way. Archaeology indicates that human settlement of New Zealand occurred sometime in the later part of the 13th century, between 1250 and 1300. There is no evidence of settlement before this time (of course, there is no real evidence that it didn't occur before this time). There are studies of Polynesian Rat (Kiore) bones found, which would indicate a Polynesian landing in New Zealand, that carbon-dating has revealed to be approximately 2000 years old but the academic jury is still out. In parts of North Island the name Kupe does appear in early placenames which would indicate that someone named Kupe left descendants and at a reasonably early time.

So what little we can say with certainty is that sometime between 2000 and 760 years ago a deliberate Polynesian voyage of exploration discovered the land we now call New Zealand . We don't know the name of the leader of this expedition but if he has to have a name then Kupe is probably as good as any other.

Sources include 'The Penguin History of New Zealand' by Michael King, 2004,
and 'The Quest for origins: Who first discovered and Settled New Zealand and the Pacific Islands' by K. R. Howe, 2008.

Answer 2

The first westerner sight the New Zealand is Dutch in a hostile situation. It was 100 of year after Dutch retreated that the British explorer, James Cook, come by and mapping the coastal area of New Zealand.

Answer 3

it was discovered 1000 years ago