European Discovery

Events In History

17 December 1773

Ten crew from the Adventure killed

At Wharehunga Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, 10 men serving on the ship accompanying James Cook's Resolution died at the hands of Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne. Read more...
24 March 1770

Kidnapped Ngāti Kahu chief Ranginui dies on French ship

Ranginui was a Ngāti Kahu chief from Doubtless Bay who was kidnapped by the French explorer Jean François Marie de Surville. Read more...
9 February 1770

Cook completes circumnavigation of North Island

The Endeavour's arrival at Cape Turnagain confirmed that the North Island was indeed an island, not part of a fabled great southern continent. Read more...
9 November 1769

Cook observes transit of Mercury

James Cook helped his astronomer Charles Green observe the transit of Mercury at Te Whanganui-o-Hei (Mercury Bay), Coromandel Peninsula. Read more...
6 October 1769

Young Nick sights land

Ship’s boy Nicholas Young received a gallon of rum and had a headland named after him for being the first aboard HMS Endeavour to spot land in the south-west Pacific. Read more...
18 December 1642

First known encounter between Māori and Europeans

Abel Tasman’s Dutch East India Company expedition had the first known European contact with Māori. It did not go well. Read more...
13 December 1642

First recorded European sighting of New Zealand

Towards noon the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted 'a large land, uplifted high', possibly the peaks of the Paparoa Range behind Punakaiki. Read more...

Articles

Exploring New Zealand's interior

After charting the coastline, European surveying and exploration of the interior were a fundamental part of the settlement process, defining the boundaries of ownership and identifying resources, useable land and access routes.
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Page 1 - Exploring New Zealand's interior After charting the coastline, European surveying and exploration of the interior were a fundamental part of the settlement process, defining the boundaries of ownership and

A frontier of chaos?

In the years before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, relations between Māori and Europeans were marred by a number of high-profile incidents.
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Page 2 - OverviewThe experiences of the explorers Abel Tasman, James Cook and Marion du Fresne convinced many Europeans that New Zealand was a dangerous

Biographies

Tasman, Abel Janszoon
The dutch explorer Abel Tasman is officially recognised as the first European to ‘discover’ New Zealand in 1642. His men were the first Europeans to have a confirmed encounter with Māori.
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Cook, James
Captain James Cook, the first European to define the outline of New Zealand, has left a permanent imprint on the consciousness of New Zealanders.
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Brunner, Thomas
Thomas Brunner’s exploits in the north and west of the South Island between 1846 and 1848 were the greatest single piece of overland exploration in New Zealand's European history.
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