Chatham Islands
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The Chatham Islands, officially the Chatham Islands Territory, are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about 800 km east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consist
The two largest islands are Chatham Island (top) and Pitt Island (bottom right)
Moriori tree carving, or dendroglyph, in the Chatham Islands
Monument to Torotoro above Kaingaroa Beach on Chatham Island
Moriori people in the late 19th century
Moriori
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The Moriori are the first settlers of the Chatham Islands. They are Polynesians who came from the New Zealand mainland by at least about 1500 AD, and possibly around the mid-15th century. The settlers
Chatham Islands
…farming, are now preserved as nature reserves to conserve some of the unique flora and fauna. The first human inhabitants of the Chatham Islands were the Moriori. They are descended from the Polynesians who settled New Zealand and from whom the Māori also descended. A group of the Polynesians migrated from…
Moriori family, c. 1910
Moriori designs carved into trees and rock