Māori Economies
A brief overview of the traditional economies of the Māori.
Traditional Economies of the Māori
Before contact with European traders, Māori villages produced most of their own goods and art. As a result, they had relatively little need for trade with other villages. Members of a whānau family grew, hunted, and caught their own foods and made common items like clothing and tools. For more advanced and spiritually complex objects like canoes, they turned to a skilled tohunga craftsman within their larger hapu. Certain valuable items like jade, argillite, preserved foods, and obsidian, however, were commonly exchanged between villages and tribes. This included an element of gift-giving and reciprocity, particularly between related groups.
Trade With the Outside World
This system of communal barter and general self-sufficiency changed with the arrival of European and American interests in New Zealand. Whalers and merchants traveling near its shores needed a source of fresh foods, water, and other supplies. The Māori began selling their produce in exchange for iron tools, textiles, foreign crops, tobacco, and firearms. This led to a rapid shift in society, including escalations in warfare. The potato soon became a staple crop across the islands. Cultivars developed by the Māori are still grown in New Zealand today.
In addition, the constant flow of ships provided new means of wealth and travel. Māori sailors of the 19th century soon gained a reputation as adept whalers, likely inspiring the character Queequeg of Herman Melville's Moby Dick. This collaborative environment characterized early relations between the Māori and outsiders, a mutual exchange of goods, skills, and ideas.
Foreign Settlement and Changing Economics
As European settlers grew more established on the islands, the Māori increasingly found themselves pushed to the edges of society. While the Treaty of Waitangi promised Māori groups ownership of their lands, their holdings gradually diminished through post-war confiscations. In 1862, formerly communal lands were forced into private ownership, fracturing the hapu system. The rocky regions left to many Māori farmers proved unsuitable for raising sheep, the major industry of early New Zealand, which was also prone to booms and busts.
Deprived of land and economic opportunities, young Māori people gradually left their homes for emerging cities. While many found success there, New Zealand’s Maori population continues to face higher rates of poverty and unemployment than the national average. Those who remain in rural areas tend to work in the farming, forestry, fishing, arts, and tourism industries. Recent settlements negotiated by iwi with the New Zealand government have sought to undo past damages against their tribes. These treaty settlements have provided further infusions of capital into the expanding Māori economy.
References
Kingi, Tanira. “Ahuwhenua – Māori Land and Agriculture.” Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, teara.govt.nz/en/ahuwhenua-maori-land-and-agriculture/print.
McLintock, A.H. “1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.” Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 13 Dec. 2012, teara.govt.nz/en/1966.
Metge, Joan. Rautahi: The Māoris of New Zealand. Routledge. 2004.
Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History. Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris eds. Bridget Williams Books. 2014.
“The World Factbook: New Zealand.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1 May 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nz.html.
White, John. The Ancient History of the Māori, Vol. 1. G. Didsbury, 1887.
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