Abstract
This chapter shifts the focus from demographic trends overall to one component of population change – the determinants and consequences of mortality trends. In this, it pays particular attention to the bio-demography of mortality – why diseases had such a severe impact on Maori and how a turnaround in death rates occurred. Attention is also paid to the relationships between land alienation and mortality. Additionally, it charts the fatality rates due to warfare. Changes in fertility levels played little role in driving population trends in this period. Initially, rates for Maori were in the upper medium range, but, later in the colonial period, once the virulence of introduced venereal diseases had diminished, they moved into the high range (5.0+ births per woman), only a modest shift. Instead, demographic change was driven primarily by death rates, which are, of course, the ultimate measure of health levels. For that reason, the causes and consequences of high rates of mortality must be the focus of any population history of the colonial era.
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