ABSTRACT
The first encounter between Maori and European took place in 1642, when Abel Tasman’s two ships anchored in Golden Bay, Nelson. It was brief and hardly auspicious: Maori canoes rammed a cockboat, killing four Dutchmen. Captain James Cook, who first arrived in 1769, established friendly relations only after several Maoris were killed in skirmishes. From Cook and the explorers who followed him, the Maoris obtained cloth, iron tools, pigs and potatoes, in exchange for food and craft goods.
