The family tree

The last major land mass in Polynesia was settled around the 13^th century when humans reached New Zealand. These people would evolve into what we now call, the Maori¹.

Maori society has, and always has had a very organised structure². At the heart of this structure was the ‘tribe’, or ‘iwi³’. An iwi was originally identified by the waka in which the early Polynesians had arrived⁴ in New Zealand. Iwi ‘homelands’ are scattered across New Zealand⁵, particularly in the North Island. This relationship to an area is similar to the concept of Aboriginal nations⁶.

At the next level was the main political unit of Maori society, the hapu². These ‘clans’ could include up to several hundred related people and were responsible for defending their land and supporting their members. Within the hapu there could be dozens of whanau (pronounced ‘far-now’), or extended families. Finally, within these three groups there was a system of social rank⁷ that was headed by the arika.

Changing lifestyles

Read more on Wairau Bar⁸ and/or investigate the archaeological site⁹. About 300 years later, the Kohika settlement, with access to the vital resource of obsidian, was thriving. Read about Kohika¹⁰ and learn about its significance¹¹.