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Explain the nature of the interaction that occurred during the Contact Period between
Maori and Pakeha.
Evaluate the influences that the interaction had on Maori society during this time.
Use the checklist below to guide you in annotating this essay with comments, pointing out
both the strengths and the weaknesses. Write all over it, highlight facts etc etc!
ESSAY CHECKLIST
Does the essay have an introduction and conclusion that tell the reader in a general way about the
key points covered in the main body (both must ATFQ as well)?
Is the argument clear? (that, despite the changes, Maori society remained strong – i.e. acculturation)
Do the paragraphs each deal with one main idea, which clearly helps to ATFQ? Does each Topic
Sentence signal to the reader what this main idea is? Is it clear from each Topic Sentence which
question is being responded to?
Are the main points backed up with information and examples (facts) in each paragraph?
Is enough of the relevant content covered?
Are the ideas communicated in clear and well-structured sentences?
Early contact with Pakeha before 1840 had a huge influence
on Maori in many ways. The pursuit of mana, the idea of
acculturation and the “workable accord’ were among the main
trends and patterns that occurred due to Pakeha contact with
Maori. The influences on Maori society involved an interest in
religion and literacy, changes in lifestyle, a conversion to a
market economy and the effects of disease on the Maori
population.
There were many trends and patterns among Maori and
Pakeha contact pre-1840, with the central ideas being the
Maori ‘pursuit of mana’, ‘acculturation’ and the ‘workable
accord’, which saw trade develop. The pursuit of mana was an
aspect of contact that showed much continuity throughout the
pre-1840 period, as before Pakeha arrival there had been
strong competition for mana (or status) between tribes, and
Pakeha arrival only seemed to further these aims. To this
extent, Belich states that the pursuit of mana was an “all
engrossing characteristic of Maori society”, being furthered by
different Pakeha products. Belich refers to the ‘ever changing
currency of mana” as these products which were in demand by
Maori to improve their status. These included iron tools (pre1800 – 1810), pigs and potatoes (1810 – 1815), muskets (1815
– 1830) and literacy/Christianity (1830 – 1840).
Historian Harrison Wright claimed that the Maori exposure to
British culture epitomised the “fatal impact theory”, whereby
they saw British culture as superior to their own and their own
as obsolete, and so suffered a cultural breakdown. Belich and
Binney dispute this and say that the contact instead supports
the “acculturation” theory, whereby the Maori “selectively
plucked” aspects of British culture to supplement their own,
which seems to be more correct, given Maori response to
particular aspects of the British culture, such as using Pakeha
blankets as cloaks and adopting aspects of Christianity to form
the Papahurihia religion, a blend of Maori mysticism and
Christianity.
Trade has been seen by some as the ‘engine’ of race relations,
and to this extent Claudia Orange has stated that a ‘workable
accord’ was established, whereby Maori and Pakeha worked
together to help each other, with Pakeha providing various
products for trade in return for resources. This workable
accord could be seen as a continuous aspect of this early
contact period, such as through the various “currencies of
mana” that were seen as popular. The arrangement worked
primarily because both sides benefited from it, the Europeans
gained the resources they wanted and if Maori attacked traders
it would result in a loss of trade in that area, such as the ‘Boyd
massacre’, in which Maori attacked the inhabitants of a ship
and consequently lost trade in that area for a while. Belich
supports the idea of a workable accord because though there
were over a thousand incidents of contact, there were only 40
or so incidents of conflict.
There were many influences of the contact between Maori and
Pakeha pre-1840, especially for Maori society. These included
religion/literacy, changes in lifestyle, a change in economy and
disease. Religion and literacy became in much demand as a
result of Maori contact with missionaries. While Harrison
Wright argues from a Eurocentric point of view that Maori
conversion rates were a consequence of ‘missionary
effectiveness’, Binney disputes this by saying that Maori
“actively chose” Christianity in regards to looking for a newer
peaceful way of life after the musket wars had finished.
Pakeha contact held many changes in lifestyle for the Maori,
such as adopting British clothing (hats, trousers, using blankets
as cloaks), food (pigs and dropping kumara as the staple
vegetable in favour of the more durable potato), gestures (such
as handshakes), literacy and religion (such as Papahurihia).
There was also a large conversion to a market economy by
Maori in order to produce a ‘surplus’ of goods in order to trade.
Simmons says that many Maori worked themselves into
exhaustion in attempts to produce enough goods for the
market economy, making themselves more susceptible to
disease among other things. Disease was also a huge
influence on Maori population. Pool states that Maori were
previously “immunologically virgin”, unused to the various
European diseases which were brought over, and so were
affected greatly, with estimated losses of up to 50%, such as
the outbreak of the flu in Southland, which caused the deaths
of around 2/3 of the local population.
The issue of the impact of Maori contact with Pakeha pre-1840
was a very significant one, which though showing both
continuity and change in terms of various influences, also
affected the Maori in various ways, such as a change in
lifestyle and a conversion to Christianity.