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Early Aotearoa New Zealand History

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Early Aotearoa New Zealand History

Read the source, then use evidence to investigate voyaging, settlement and life in early Aotearoa. Māori histories include many iwi and hapū perspectives. The source distinguishes historical evidence from accounts told through tradition.

Source: Voyaging and settlement

Long before European ships reached Aotearoa, Polynesian voyagers crossed the Pacific in ocean-going waka. They carried people, knowledge, tools and supplies. Skilled navigators observed stars, the Sun, winds, ocean swells, currents, clouds and the behaviour of birds. These clues helped them travel and find land without compasses or satellite navigation. Māori oral traditions tell of ancestral voyagers and important figures, including Kupe. Accounts differ between iwi and hapū, and stories connect people to ancestors, places and identity. They are important historical sources, but they are not all identical descriptions of one event. Archaeological evidence, including settlement sites and artefacts, indicates that Polynesian settlement of Aotearoa began many generations before European ships arrived. People established communities in different environments and adapted their knowledge and practices to local conditions. They cultivated kūmara in suitable areas, gathered food, fished and hunted. Whānau, hapū and iwi relationships, authority, knowledge and responsibilities to places shaped community life. Historians learn about the past by comparing sources and considering what each can and cannot tell us.

A. Read sources carefully

Use details from the source. When a question asks for an inference, explain how the evidence supports your idea.

1.Which set lists three environmental clues named in the source that navigators could use to find their way?

Stars, ocean swells and bird behaviour
Compasses, road signs and clocks
Maps, engines and radio signals
Mountains, railway lines and streetlights

2.Explain one reason why a navigator might observe more than one natural clue during a voyage.

3.True or false? The source says every iwi and hapū tells exactly the same account of Kupe.

TrueFalse

4.Complete the sentence: Archaeological evidence indicates that Polynesian settlement of Aotearoa began European ships arrived.

5.Name two kinds of historical source mentioned in the source and state one thing historians can learn from either one.

B. Make and support an interpretation

Historians ask who created a source, what it can show and what questions remain unanswered.

6.The source says people adapted their practices to local environments. Give one example from the source and explain what it suggests about how communities lived.

7.A researcher finds an artefact at a settlement site. Give one question the artefact might help answer and one limitation of using that artefact on its own.

8.Manaia is preparing a museum display about early settlement. She has an oral tradition shared by an iwi and evidence from an archaeological site. Describe how she could present both sources respectfully without claiming they say exactly the same thing.

9.Write one careful conclusion about early Polynesian settlement that is supported by the source. Then name one detail that the source does not establish.