– 1642
On
this date in 1642, an expedition of exploration sighted a group of
islands in the South Pacific that were previously unknown to
Europeans. The leader of the expedition, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman,
is given the credit for the discovery—but of course he wasn't the
first person to set eyes on the islands we now call New Zealand.
As
a matter of fact, the islands had been settled by people hundreds of
years before Tasman's expedition. As a matter of fact, the Polynesian
people who lived on what we now call South Island attacked the Dutch
crew members who were trying to land on the island—and killed
several of them!
 |
| This is a drawing made by Tasman's artist about the skirmish with the South Islanders... |
Either
the trumpet signals exchanged by the Dutch were misinterpreted as a
battle cry, or the South Islanders were smart enough to know that the
Europeans would make trouble for them and their way of life.
Tasman
didn't try to land a second time, and it wasn't until English
explorer James Cook revisited New Zealand in the late 18th
century that Europeans became interested in making a permanent
colony. In 1840 Great Britain annexed the islands.
Learn
about the Maori, the native people of New Zealand who settled the
islands around 1250 or 1300 C.E. Here is a great video. 
Crafts 4 Kids has several Maori-inspired crafts.
Also
on this date:
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