Maori

Origins and formation

Maori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. They descend from East Polynesian settlers who arrived in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over centuries in isolation, the settlers developed a distinct culture, with language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts that evolved apart from other eastern Polynesian cultures. In the 15th century some moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became the Moriori. A game leader is one figure inside that longer settlement. He is not the whole people.¹

Defining periods

Kupe was a Polynesian explorer who, according to Maori history, was the first person to discover New Zealand. He is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, and he probably spoke a Maori proto-language similar to Cook Islands Maori or Tahitian. His voyage made the land known to Polynesians and is therefore tied, in that account, to the genesis of the Maori people. He was born in the geographically uncertain homeland of Hawaiki, between 40 and 23 generations ago. The lead does not convert those generations into a year. The reasons for the journey are contested. Oral history recounts conflict in Hawaiki. Early contact with Europeans begins in the 18th century and runs from trade to violence. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840. No Civilization VII essay covers this people, so none is linked.^{1 2}

Leaders

The update notes, in English and Chinese, place the Maori Toa among unique units that upgrade into the man-at-arms, beside the Roman Legion, the Kongolese Ngao Mbeba, the Macedonian Hypaspist, the Persian Immortal, and the Gallic Gaesatae. A separate line tags a strength change for that warrior to Gathering Storm. The notes do not print Kupe. The unit name is not a pack assignment for the civilization, and the ruleset bracket is not one either, so his pack stays unconfirmed. The Chinese form of his personal name in this essay is the standard reading.^{3 4}

Legacy and interpretation

The people’s legacy in the lead is a distinct culture grown from East Polynesian settlement. Kupe’s legacy is a voyage that the same tradition places first, without a calendar year. The generations in the biography and the dated canoes of about 1320 to 1350 are two different kinds of time. The treaty of 1840 is later still. A civilization entry that uses only his face should not be read as the signing of that treaty.^{1 2}

A closer look

The update’s line about the warrior is a combat number. This essay does not copy it. A changed strength is not Hawaiki and not 1840.³

In Civilization VI

The pack stays unconfirmed. Keep the canoe window of about 1320 to 1350, Kupe’s undated generations, and the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 apart, and do not treat the standard reading of his name as a quotation from the 2K pages used here.^{1 2 4}