Chapter 16
The Context of Oral Traditions: The Oral
Transmission of History and Maui
the Navigator’s Visit to New Zealand
Abstract The early settlement of New Zealand is implicit in traditional accounts
of Maui the Navigator’s visit to New Zealand. It is clear from these accounts that
Maui followed sailing instructions handed down from earlier navigators. The language divergence and cultural impoverishment of the indigenous peoples he met
point both to a significant time depth since first settlement and to long isolation
for the descendants of the first colonists. Following the East Australian Current
led Maui to a landing on the west coast of the South Island, the landfall predicted
by our paradigm and recorded in traditional histories. Maui’s “discovery” of the
North Island, together with the descendants of earlier migrants, emphasizes the
isolation of New Zealand from its Spice Island homeland since knowledge of the
North Island had not reached the Spice Islands in 1,500 years. A matrilineal social
structure obvious from Maui’s meeting with a chieftainess at Orokoroko matches
evidence presented in Chapter 10 for the preservation of early matrilineal structures
in New Zealand. Further, the fact that news of Maui’s death was brought back to
New Zealand and preserved there supports traditional evidence for later colonizations of New Zealand spanning 1,300 years by Maui’s descendants claiming land
rights in his name.
Keywords Oral traditions · Maori legends · Myth and Prehistory · Language
divergence · Technological impoverishment · Maui’s visit to New Zealand ·
Lapita origins
16.1 Introduction
In this and the following chapter we move from the relative certainties of mathematics to more subtle and indirect evidence for a Lapita-age first settlement of New
Zealand. We offer evidence for a first-wave settlement of New Zealand from Maori
oral traditions. We focus in this chapter on traditional accounts of a singular event,
Maui the Navigator’s visit to New Zealand and his meeting with the chieftainess of
Orokoroko at Palliser Bay. From the chronology we derive in Chapter 19 it seems
likely that this visit took place in about AD 100.
263
C.E.M. Pearce, F.M. Pearce, Oceanic Migration,
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_16, C
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
The Context of Oral Traditions: The Oral
Transmission of History and Maui
the Navigator’s Visit to New Zealand
Abstract The early settlement of New Zealand is implicit in traditional accounts
of Maui the Navigator’s visit to New Zealand. It is clear from these accounts that
Maui followed sailing instructions handed down from earlier navigators. The language divergence and cultural impoverishment of the indigenous peoples he met
point both to a significant time depth since first settlement and to long isolation
for the descendants of the first colonists. Following the East Australian Current
led Maui to a landing on the west coast of the South Island, the landfall predicted
by our paradigm and recorded in traditional histories. Maui’s “discovery” of the
North Island, together with the descendants of earlier migrants, emphasizes the
isolation of New Zealand from its Spice Island homeland since knowledge of the
North Island had not reached the Spice Islands in 1,500 years. A matrilineal social
structure obvious from Maui’s meeting with a chieftainess at Orokoroko matches
evidence presented in Chapter 10 for the preservation of early matrilineal structures
in New Zealand. Further, the fact that news of Maui’s death was brought back to
New Zealand and preserved there supports traditional evidence for later colonizations of New Zealand spanning 1,300 years by Maui’s descendants claiming land
rights in his name.
Keywords Oral traditions · Maori legends · Myth and Prehistory · Language
divergence · Technological impoverishment · Maui’s visit to New Zealand ·
Lapita origins
16.1 Introduction
In this and the following chapter we move from the relative certainties of mathematics to more subtle and indirect evidence for a Lapita-age first settlement of New
Zealand. We offer evidence for a first-wave settlement of New Zealand from Maori
oral traditions. We focus in this chapter on traditional accounts of a singular event,
Maui the Navigator’s visit to New Zealand and his meeting with the chieftainess of
Orokoroko at Palliser Bay. From the chronology we derive in Chapter 19 it seems
likely that this visit took place in about AD 100.
263
C.E.M. Pearce, F.M. Pearce, Oceanic Migration,
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_16, C
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010