Ms Hos-McGrane's Grade 6
Social Studies Class

Amsterdam Student Projects

Maori-Related Projects from Other Schools

From Lytton High School (Gisborne, New Zealand) read a collection of Maori legends. These were compiled as part of the British Council Internlink project linking schools in the UK and New Zealand in Internet-related projects.

Challenge your students to use their atlas to find towns, rivers, regions, mountains and other geographic features that have Maori names following this vocabulary listing.

Other Maori Information on the Web

Maori History

Te Whanganui-a-Tara (The Great Harbour of Tara) is the Maori name of Wellington. Tara, like the Duke of Welington, never actually visited the place. A brief history which is part of a site devoted to the history of Wellington.

From the National Archives of New Zealand both a digital image of the original document as well as a transcript of the treaty in Maori and English. There is also a site with background information on the Treaty of Waitangi as well as the text of an earlier document, the Declaration of Independence (1835) and another site on the Treaty of Waitangi from the New Zealand Government online.

Here is an essay published in 1996 which gives an overview of Maori history from secondary sources.

Information on the history of the Maori peoples from Lonely Planet online publications.

Maori Culture & Language

Translations on line and simple to use - simply type in the word in Maori or English and it translates for you. You can even here the word pronounced if you have sound capability on your computer

Whatever their reasons, people around the world have been piercing, tattooing, and painting their bodies for ages. There's excellent evidence of this in the galleries of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, some of it dating as far back as the 9th century B.C. Body modification and what it means is personal and cultural. The section on tattooing shows examples from the Maori culture.

Another exhibition at the same site discusses methods used by ancient Polynesian peoples for Traditional Navigation in the Western Pacific.

A meta-index for Maori Organisations and information on the Web which links to topics including Maori history, arts and crafts, news and language. Also links to an excellent collection of Maori Clip art. This is a good starting point for any web exploration on the Maori people and their culture with links to many other external resources on the net.

Hawaiki, the legendary homeland of the Maori peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand, from where they migrated to New Zealand about 1000 years ago. Where is Hawaiki? Many have speculated that it lies somewhere in the Pacific, somewhere in Polynesia. This site is the homepage of a Maori webmaster--and includes information on a range of topics--including a map showing Polynesian migration in the area.

A site "dedicated to bringing the beauty and excitement of the culture of the Maori to the net". Topics include: Maori tatoo, Maori carving, the meeting house and the Maori "challenge".

A brief introduction on the Maori culture from the New Zealand travel guide.

Maori Art

Professor Ron Johnson's collection of Maori art slides from a course he teaches in the US on Introduction to Tribal Art.

Maori carving or "whakairo" has developed over the centuries. Here you can see examples made from wood, pounamu(nephrite jade) animal and human bone and onewa (basalt). This information is linked to the world wide web of Maori organisation of New Zealand

Maori Legends

Pakiwaitara - Traditional Maori legends site at the World Wide Web of Maori Organisations in New Zealand (www.maori.org.nz). Included are links to Maori Creation Story, How the Stars Were Made, The First Woman and many more. A good index to Maori folklore in the Web.

Nowhere in New Zealand is it easier to understand and enjoy the remarkable story of the origins of than the land and people than in Rotorua. This collection of Maori legends centering on that area is part of a brief history of Rotorua.