Māori warrior dance
The Māori people are an indigenous Austronesian ethnic group of people living in the Oceanic region of Polynesia. The Māori people have a strong culture that dates back several centuries or even millenia. Māori people are sometimes often referred to as Polynesians or Pacific Islanders. New Zealand contains the highest noticeable Māori population.
History[]
The history of Polynesian people remain mostly a mystery among historians. Most of the Polynesian people's histories are confined by legends. According to Māori mythology, the people originated from Hawaiki, a mythical homeland in Polynesia. Although historians did find the beginning of deforestation around 1280 AD. It is also suggested that Māoris share an ancestry from Taiwan, where many other Austronesian speakers share common origins. Around the 1400s and 1500s, the Māoris developed a culture that embraces warrior traditions. Although there are evidences of cannibalism involved in ancient Māori culture. During 1700s, the Māoris would find themselves in contact with Europeans. Unlike the European colonialization around the world, the most of the British immigrants were prisoners exiled from the United Kingdom. The British parliment used a distinct style of colonizing by using prisoners as colonists to Australia and New Zealand. The Māori people had a rather peaceful encounter with the Euroepans.
By Country[]
Māoris live mostly in Australia and southern Polynesia. Most Māoris live in New Zealand. There are 644,000 Māoris living in New Zealand.[1] In Australia there are 126,000 Māoris living in the country.[2] In the United States and United Kingdom there are 11,500 Māoris but this statistic applies to the Pacific territories of the United States and United Kingdom rather than the mainlands. In Canada there are 1,500 Māoris living in the country and 8,000 in the other Oceanic regions.[3]
Language and Religion[]
Most Māori people speak English. The English language was spread as a result of British colonialization. English is a world major language, the international language and is part of the Germanic family of languages. There is a Māori language spoken by smaller groups of Māoris, about 157,000 people. The Māori language is part of the Oceanic-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. Māori is very distantly related to other Austronesian languages like Malay, Malagasy and Indonesian. Māori is closely related to the Tahitian language and to Hawaiian to a lesser extent, Since New Zealand and Australia retain their mainstream British influences from the colonialization, most Māoris follow the Protestant section of Christianity. But Māori traditional religions still exist. Regardless of religion, Māori people still retain their traditional culture alongside Christian practices. Tatooing is major part of Māori culture. A lot of Māori tradition also embraces warrior-life. Popular Māori sporst are cricket, ki-o-rahi and tapawai. Waka ama is outrigger canooeing also popular with Māoris.
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