新西兰

新西兰乃世上最年轻的移民国家之一。

波里尼西亚移民约在西元500年至1300年间抵达，成为新西兰的原住民毛利人。

首批已知到此的欧洲人是奉荷兰东印度公司之命而来的荷兰人亚伯·塔斯曼（Abel Janszoon Tasman）所带领的船队，在1642年抵达“南北岛”西岸。

当时他们不知两岛是分开的，故整体命名为StaatenLandt（州地）。

其后再依照他们在现今印尼巴塔维亚的基地名称改为Nieuw Zeeland。

该基地原先命名是依照荷兰本土的西兰省。

1769年，库克船长（James Cook）开始仔细研究新西兰，先后三次到访南太平洋和新西兰，并为新西兰绘制地图。

其最初的地图，把斯图尔特岛当作一个半岛，把班克斯半岛当做一个岛屿。

库克的地图致使欧洲捕鲸船扩增在此地海域的活动，新西兰最终成为欧洲的殖民地。

《怀唐伊条约》（Treaty of Waitangi）于1840年签订后，新西兰成为英国殖民地。

但该条约有英文与毛利文二版本，英国皇室代表签了英文版，毛利人签了毛利文版。

毛利文版承诺给毛利人“tinorangatiratanga”，这词在毛利文意为“自治”，英文版却翻译成“首领位置”，双方对文意及解读不同。

这词和其他一些问题至今仍为新西兰政府与毛利人间的芥蒂。

比如《海床和前滩的所有权》归属问题。

1905年，新西兰北岛发生白人与毛利人的北部战争。

1907年，新西兰决定成为英国成为自治领地，而非加入澳大利亚联邦。

1947年，新西兰独立。

新西兰包含两个主要岛屿，南岛与北岛，此外还有周围一些小岛；两岛之间为科克海峡；而首都惠灵顿则位于北岛的南端，临柯克海峡。

山地约占总面积的一半，其余为平原丘陵和平原；南岛西部有高大的南阿尔卑斯山脉，最高峰库克山，海拔3764米，多冰川和湖泊；北岛东部地势较高，中、西部有广大的火山区，多湖泊、瀑布、温泉，湖泊周围为平原；河流短小湍急，富水力。

新西兰属温带阔叶林气候，北岛的奥克兰半岛为亚热带气候，其余为温带气候；年降水量北岛1000－1500，南岛600－1000毫米，南阿尔卑斯山脉西南部则多达6300毫米。

由于气候温润，牧草丰美。

畜牧业采天然放牧，以节省人工和饲料。

Main article: New Zealand place namesDetail from a 1657 map showing the western coastline of "Nova Zeelandia"Aotearoa (often translated as "land of the long white cloud")*11+ is the current Māori name for New Zealand, and is also used in New Zealand English. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the whole country before the arrival of Europeans, with Aotearoa originally referring to just the North Island.[12] Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, supposing it was connected to a landmass of the same name at the southern tip of South America.[13] In 1645 Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland.[14][15] British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand.[n 8]Māori had several traditional n ames for the two main islands, including TeIka-a-Māui (the fish of Māui) for the North Island and TeWaiPounamu (the waters of greenstone) or TeWaka o Aoraki (the canoe of Aoraki) for the South Island.[16] Early European maps labelled the islands North (North Island), Middle (South Island) and South (Stewart Island / Rakiura).[17] In 1830 maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907 this was the accepted norm.[18] The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised, but there are now plans to do so.*19+ The board is also considering suitable Māori names,*20+ with TeIka-a-Māui and TeWaiPounamu the most likely choices according to the chairman o f the Māori Language Commission.[21]HistoryMain article: History of New ZealandThe Māori people are most likely descended from people that emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands. After a pause of 70–265 years a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand.[22]New Zealand was one of the last major landmasses settled by humans. Radiocarbon dating, evidence of deforestation*23+ and mitochondrial DNA variability within Māori po pulations[24] suggest New Zealand was first settled by Eastern Polynesians between 1250 and 1300,[16][25] concluding a long series of voyages through the southern Pacific islands.[26] Over the centuries that followed these settlers developed a distinct cul ture now known as Māori. The population was divided into iwi (tribes) and hapū (subtribes) which would cooperate, compete and sometimes fight with each other. At some point a group of Māori migrated to the Chatham Islands (which they named Rēkohu) where th ey developed their distinct Moriori culture.[27][28] The Moriori population was decimated between 1835 and 1862, largely due to Māori invasion and enslavement, although European diseases also contributed. In 1862 only 101 survived and the last known full-blooded Moriori died in 1933.[29]The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and his crew in 1642.[30] In a hostile encounter, four crew members were killed and at least one Māori was hit by canister shot.*31+ Eur opeans did not revisit New Zealand until 1769 when British explorer James Cook mapped almost the entire coastline.[30] Following Cook, New Zealand wasvisited by numerous European and North American whaling, sealing and trading ships. They traded food, metal tools, weapons and other goods for timber, food, artefacts, water, and on occasion sex.*32+ The introduction of the potato and the musket transformed Māori agriculture and warfare. Potatoes provided a reliable food surplus, which enabled longer and more sustained military campaigns.[33] The resulting inter-tribal Musket Wars encompassed over 600 battles between 1801 and 1840, killing between 30,000–40,000 Māori.*34+ From the early 19th century, Christian missionaries began to settle New Zealand, eventual ly converting most of the Māori population.*35+ The Māori population declined to around 40 percent of its pre-contact level during the 19th century; introduced diseases were the major factor.[36]The Waitangi sheet from the Treaty of WaitangiThe British government appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832[37] and in 1835, following an announcement of impending French sovereignty, the nebulous United Tribes of New Zealand sent a Declaration of the Independence to King William IV of the United Kingdom asking for protection.[37] Ongoing unrest and the dubious legal standing of the Declaration of Independence prompted the Colonial Office to send Captain William Hobson to claim sovereignty for the British Crown and negotiate a treaty with the Māori.*38+ The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840.[39] In response to the commercially run New Zealand Company's attempts to establish an independent settlement in Wellington[40] and French settlers "purchasing" land in Akaroa,[41] Hobson declared British sovereignty over all of New Zealand on 21 May 1840, even though copies of the Treaty were still circulating.[42] With the signing of the Treaty and declaration of sovereignty the number of immigrants, particularly from the United Kingdom, began to increase.[43]New Zealand, originally part of the colony of New South Wales, became a separate Crown colony in 1841.[44] The colony gained a representative government in 1852 and the 1st New Zealand Parliament met in 1854.[45] In 1856 the colony effectively became self-governing, gaining responsibility over all domestic matters other than native policy. (Control over native policy was granted in the mid-1860s.)[45] Following concerns that the South Island might form a separate colony, premier Alfred Domett moved a resolution to transfer the capital from Auckland to a locality near the Cook Strait.[46] Wellington was chosen due to its harbour and central location, with parliament officially sitting there for the first time in 1865. As immigrant numbers increased, conflicts over land led to the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s and 1870s, resulting in the loss and confiscation of much Māori land.*47+ In 1893 the country became the first nation in the world to grant all women the right to vote[48] and in 1894 pioneered the adoption of compulsory arbitration between employers and unions.[49]In 1907 New Zealand declared itself a Dominion within the British Empire and in 1947 the country adopted the Statute of Westminster, making New Zealand a Commonwealth realm.[45] New Zealand was involved in world affairs, fighting alongside the British Empire in the first and second World Wars[50] and suffering through the Great Depression.[51] The depression led to the election of the first Labour government and the establishment of a comprehensive welfare state and a protectionist economy.[52] New Zealand experienced increasing prosperity followingWorld War II*53+ and Māori began to leave their traditional rural life and move to the cities in search of work.*54+ A Māori protest movement developed, which criticisedEurocentrism and worked for greater recognition of Māori culture and the Treaty of Waitangi.*55+ In 1975, a Waitangi Tribunal was set up to investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty, and it was enabled to investigate historic grievances in 1985.[39] The government has negotiated settlements of these grievances with many iwi, although Māori claims to the foreshore and seabed have proved controversial in the 2000s.。