Missionization, Māori, and Colonial Warfare in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand

Abstract

Abstract Prior to the arrival of the first small group of Protestant evangelical missionaries to New Zealand in 1814, there were only intermittent, occasionally violent encounters between indigenous Māori and Europeans, predominantly sojourners such as explorers and sealers. Missionaries established the first European settlement in the northern part of the country, under the auspices of a Māori fortification. In 1840, British annexation took place; subsequently Māori were subjugated by a series of land wars and subsumed by a burgeoning settler population. As elsewhere in the New World, the processes of missionization in New Zealand became associated with the later events of colonization. This chapter examines the archaeology and history of missionization in New Zealand, briefly comparing these processes with those in other localities such as Australia and North America, and the specific ways in which missions contributed to the colonization of the country.