PART 2 READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Passage 2 below.

Fortunes of the Maori People

The islands of New Zealand, or Aotearoa, as its first inhabitants named them, first became populated at some point not long before 1300 AD. The indigenous people of New Zealand, known by the name they gave themselves – the Maori – are descendant from eastern Polynesia, whence they came in several waves. They formed a tribal society based on Polynesian social customs and organisation, but, over time, would develop a unique language and culture all of their own, complete with a rich mythology, distinctive crafts and performing arts, in splendid isolation from the rest of the world.

Europeans did not arrive in New Zealand until the beginning of the 17th century, and although their coming did not immediately bring the great change one might have assumed (in fact, the islanders and the Europeans lived fairly harmoniously together for some years, trading, and sharing knowledge and customs), it would, ultimately, usher in enormous upheaval. Over the years, the Maori began to adopt the settlers’ ways, and many aspects of indigenous culture were compromised as a result.

It was following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, which gave Britain a mandate to govern New Zealand and bestowed the rights of subjects of the British monarch on the Maori, that the rumblings of discontent began in earnest.

At first, what was being disputed was the exact terms of the treaty. The translation presented to the Maori in their native tongue had a number of discrepancies in it compared to the English version. Crucially, there was no mention of a total surrender of power and control to the British monarch, so it is highly unlikely that the Maori actually agreed with or consented to what they were signing when they put pen to paper on the anglicised version.

This, and the fact that only about one-third of the Maori tribes had actually signed off on the treaty, led to the first dispute, which soon turned bloody. Inevitably, the British forces, with their superior fire power, would prevail in the ensuing conflict. The conflict itself, though, did not take a harsh toll on either side in terms of fatalities. What really decimated the Maori population was disease. The Maori were not biologically equipped for the diseases they would contract as a result of contact with the settlers. They did not have sufficient natural immunity to combat flu and measles, which, it is estimated, together killed anywhere between ten and fifty percent of the population. Other illnesses such as typhoid, scarlet fever and whooping cough also took their toll.

The Maori population went into serious decline from the mid-1800s right up until the start of the 20th century when it began to stage a revival of sorts, thanks in part to efforts by the government of New Zealand, motivated by a desire to make amends for previous wrongdoing, to help the Maori return to prosperity. The 20th century saw a renaissance of Maori culture and a recovery of the population, which is continuing into the new millennium.

By 2015, an estimated 660,000 New Zealanders could claim direct Maori descent – roughly fifteen percent of the total population. Maori, the language, is spoken, to some extent, by about a quarter of this group, or four percent of the total population of New Zealand, and the Maori people are active in all aspects of domestic affairs. Maori words have become part of the lexicon of the local vernacular, New Zealand English, and many towns and regions across the country are known by their traditional Maori names.

That said, the Maori people still face some serious challenges today; challenges chiefly of a socio-economic nature. The Maori have a lower life expectancy, inferior earning power, higher crime levels and more health problems than all the other ethnic groups on the islands. They are also serial underachievers educationally. However, steps are being taken to redress the balance and improve the prospects of Maori youths going forward. One area in which they have excelled, and something which has come to almost symbolise the Maori’s great sense of pride and warrior tradition, is the game of rugby. The Maori Haka has become synonymous with the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team. This traditional Maori dance is now showcased around the world in performances by the international rugby players, which precede all games they play in.