For more information about the years before the Treaty of Waitangi see topics under Pre-1840 contact.
The Christian missionaries
Agents of virtue
The go-betweens - pre-1840 contact
The go-betweens: intermediaries in early New Zealand
An important feature of early contact in New Zealand was the role of intermediaries or kaiwhakarite who acted as go-betweens – people from one culture who lived with the other culture and helped bridge the gap between them.
Frontier of chaos? - Māori-Pakeha contact pre-1840
Governing New Zealand - background to the Treaty
Governing New Zealand
Overview - a frontier of chaos?
Setting the scene
Sealers and whalers - pre-1840 contact
A European outpost
Māori values and practices - a frontier of chaos?
Māori values and practices that influenced interactions with Europeans
The <em>Boyd</em> incident - a frontier of chaos?
In December 1809 the sailing ship Boyd was anchored in Whangaroa Harbour, where it was to pick up a cargo of timber spars. It was attacked by a group of Māori who killed most of the crew and passengers in retaliation for the captain’s mistreatment of a young local chief, Te Ara, who had sailed from Sydney on the Boyd.
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