The Maori were the first settlers of New Zealand, and the oldest dated sites are both from the South Island and date to about 1300. But in Archaeology there is a saying "Absence of evidence can not be taken as evidence of absence."
There may be older sites yet to be discovered, or which have been destroyed by erosion and volcanic activity. Recently discovered is a probable tsunami wash over parts of the far north and dated to the early 1400s.
These proto Polynesian peoples extended their reach to Easter Island (Rapanui), Hawaii, and New Zealand (Aotearoa), and these three points bound the area called Polynesia.
A common question on Wiki is why did the (Scots/Irish/Jews migrate, and a common answer is to escape overpopulation/poverty/oppression at home.
The Polynesian peoples who first arrived in New Zealand and became the Maori came from the islands of Eastern Polynesia mythically known as 'Hawaiiki'.
No, the Maori were the first people to settle the islands we now call New Zealand.
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.
It's considered that the first inhabitants of the territory of New Zealand were the Maoris. According to them, the first explorer that reached that land was called Kupe, he navigated following the stars and ocean currents, he came from his native Polynesia, concretely from the island of Hawaiki, approximately 1000 years ago.
The name of the earliest human visitor to New Zealand (Aotearoa) is unknown. The (probably apocryphal) Kupe is often credited with the feat,. In the 1300s, Maori settlement began in New Zealand, and the two oldest archaeological sites are at Wairau Bar and at the Shag River (Waihemo), both in the South Island.
The MaoriThe Maori are New Zealand's first nation peoples.
The early settlers (Polynesians) arrived in New Zealand around 1250-1300 AD, while the Europeans (Dutch navigator Abel Tasman) first arrived in 1642.
By boat.
People from Switzerland come to new zealand because (this is present day) Swiss people need more jobs and they come to new zealand for good jobs for more money.
The most current reliable evidence shows that New Zealand was first settled around 1280 BC.
The Maori people were in New Zealand first.
No, the Maori were the first people to settle the islands we now call New Zealand.
The Polynesian ancestors of the Maori were the first people to find and settle the islands of New Zealand.
Yes people from Switzerland still come to New Zealand for money,food and houses or even more land
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.
1896
The MaoriThe Maori were the first people to settle the islands of New Zealand.
The Maori people are Polynesian in origin and are believed to have migrated from eastern Polynesia to New Zealand around 1280 AD. They are descendants of Polynesian explorers who settled in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and developed their distinctive culture and language over centuries.