Tangata Whenua: A History

2015 Aotearoa Māori book awards finalists - Te Korero o Mua - History

After the publication of Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History in 2014, the authors realised many more people would engage with this new history of the Māori people if the same text were available in a paperback format - with maps, diagrams and statistics, but not the rich array of images in the illustrated edition.

A landmark publication, Tangata Whenua portrays the sweep of Māori history from Pacific origins to the twenty-first century. Through narrative and images, it offers a striking overview of the past, grounded in specific localities and histories.

Fifteen chapters bring together scholarship in history, archaeology, traditional narratives and oral history. Placing Māori at the centre of the country's story, Tangata Whenua begins in the Pacific and outlines early settlement in New Zealand.

A second section covers the period of great change in the nineteenth century, examining how Māori communities were affected by the influx of new technology, religious ideas, trade and literacy. The history then extends forward through the twentieth century with two world wars, the growth of an urban Māori culture, rising protest, and Treaty claims and settlements.