Whakatau was a supernatural person in Māori mythology.
1988 depiction of Whakatau running along the seafloor flying his kite, under Rongotakawhiu's watch. The vague appearance of Papatūānuku can be seen as the island.
Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. The Māori are descended from East Polynesian settlers who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1
Early Archaic period artefacts from the Wairau Bar archaeological site, on display at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch
Model of a pā (hillfort) built on a headland. Pā proliferated as competition and warfare increased among a growing population.
A drawing from Abel Tasman's travel journal of the first encounter between Europeans and Māori, in 1642