ABSTRACT
New Zealand was settled by the Māori people, 700 to 2,000 years ago. The British colonized the country in the 1800s, dramatically changing its political and economic landscape. The Treaty of Waitangi, signed between Māori and Queen Victoria in 1840, ceded the right to govern New Zealand to the British, but intended to also respect and protect Māori values and treasures (including land, fi sheries, and collective family values). Subsequent diseases, wars, and land confi scations, together with urbanization and the imposition of mainstream education and English language requirements, eroded the economic and social well-being of Māori family life. However, a recent renaissance in Māoridom, and respect for the Treaty as the nation’s founding document, has revived the language and enabled signifi cant fi nancial settlements to be paid to tribes for past grievances. New Zealand’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture and tourism. It ranks highly on human development, quality of life, life expectancy, literacy, public education, peace, prosperity, economic freedom, ease of doing
business, lack of corruption, press freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.
