{"product_id":"9780473426347","title":"Two Voyages: The first meeting of Maori and Europeans, and the journeys that led to it","description":"\u003cp\u003eNew Zealand was the last major habitable land on Earth to be populated.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany associate the discovery of New Zealand with James Cook, but he was not the first to venture to this isolated part of the Earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen James Cook landed in New Zealand in July 1769 he landed at what is now known as Gisborne, on the east coast of the North Island. It is in the latitude 38°40’S, and Cook was not sailing this latitude accidentally.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe west coast of New Zealand was first revealed on a published map in 1648. James Cook knew exactly where he was going; \u003cstrong\u003eAbel Tasman\u003c\/strong\u003e had been there in 1642 and Cook had a copy of his chart and journal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe motivation behind Tasman’s voyage was profit. He was not voyaging into the unknown for fame, glory or fortune; he was a salaried employee of the Dutch East India Company, a multinational trading company. His mission was to find new lands with goods to trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe first saw New Zealand on 13th December 1642. Five days later he had a dramatic encounter with the locals; a tribe of Māori called \u003cstrong\u003eNgāti Tūmatakōkiri\u003c\/strong\u003e. This was the first meeting of Māori and Europeans. Tasman had not found an empty land; it had already been discovered and settled.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNew Zealand was discovered by Polynesians from the Central Pacific around 950 AD, but remained only sparsely populated for three hundred years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn approximately 1300 AD a wave of Polynesian migration began. The immigrants that went to New Zealand did so for self-preservation. They risked the voyage to New Zealand to escape warfare, death or starvation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn 19th December 1642 Abel Tasman’s crews met the locals with fatal consequences. Those local Māori were descendants of the crew of the waka Kurahaupō who had arrived in New Zealand about 300 years earlier.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTwo Voyages\u003c\/strong\u003e follows the journeys of the waka Kurahaupō, its occupants and their descendants; and Abel Tasman and his crew. It follows the journeys from their origins, to their point of coincidence in Golden Bay.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis wonderfully illustrated book explores the discovery of New Zealand by the Polynesians, and by the Europeans after them. It looks at the factors giving impetus to the two journeys, the people who undertook them, their routes, the means by which they travelled, and their tragic first meeting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere are many books about the history of New Zealand that begin with the arrival of Europeans; this one ends there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"David Horry","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49980529901808,"sku":"9780473426347","price":33.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780473426347","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}