New Zealand History II – Impacts of Settlement

This set covers the ecological impacts of both Māori and European colonisation on New Zealand, focusing on habitat loss, predator introductions, and species extinctions.

Pre-human Vegetation

Approximately $85\text{--}90\%$ of Aotearoa was heavily forested around $1000\,AD$, with beech forests in the South Island and podocarp-broadleaf forests in the North Island.

Gigantism

A distinctive feature of unique pre-human New Zealand birds, exemplified by the New Zealand eagle ($Aquila\,moorei$) which weighed approximately $15\,kg$.

Flightlessness

A common trait in pre-human New Zealand birds due to the lack of mammalian predators; examples include $9$ species of Moa, $5$ species of Kiwi, and the Kakapo.

Chronology of Human Arrival

Evidence from dating charcoal (forest burning) and rat-gnawed seeds converges to approximately $1280\,AD$ for the colonisation of Aotearoa.

Archaic Period ($1300\text{--}1500\,AD$)

The early phase of Māori occupation where settlements were typically coastal and characterized by a lack of weapons and fortifications.

Classic Period ($1500\text{--}1642\,AD$)

A period of Māori occupation marked by environmental changes like a colder climate and tsunamis, leading to the development of fortified pā and shifts in culture.

Fire as a Tool

A deliberate method used by Polynesian settlers to open up the countryside and convert forest into fern habitats for cultivating tubers.

Middens

Archaeological sites resembling old dumps that reveal what humans ate and indicate past biodiversity through left-behind bones.

Moa Extinction

The rapid loss of these large-bodied birds (ranging from $12\text{--}250\,kg$) due to hunting, which occurred within roughly $200$ years of human arrival.

Kiore

The Pacific Rat brought by Māori as a valued food source, which contributed to the extinction of small birds and frogs.

Kuri

The Polynesian dog introduced by Māori as a food source, though its environmental impact is less documented compared to the kiore.

European Contact Timeline

Key dates include Abel Tasman in $1642$, James Cook in $1769$, and extensive settlement beginning in the $1800s$.

Wetland Drainage

The drainage of land for European farming which resulted in a $90\%$ loss of historic wetlands since arrival.

Mustelids

Introducted predatory mammals including the Ferret ($1879$), Stoat ($1884$), and Weasel ($1884$), often brought for biological control of pests.

Specimen Export Market

A major $19\text{th}$-century trade where thousands of bird skins like $Strigops\,habroptilus$ (Kakapo) and $Apteryx\,owenii$ (Little Spotted Kiwi) were sent to Europe.

Big South Cape Island

An island where an invasion of Ship Rats in $1964$ eradicated the last remnant populations of the Greater Short-tailed Bat, Stead’s Bush Wren, and South Island Snipe.

New Zealand Grayling

A species of fish that went extinct in approximately $1930$ during the post-European period.

Whaling Impact

A significant $19\text{th}$-century economic activity that saw thousands of mammals caught, including $4200$ humpback whales by Perano's of Tory Channel between $1911$ and $1694$.