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n– 1642
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nOnnthis date in 1642, an expedition of exploration sighted a group ofnislands in the South Pacific that were previously unknown tonEuropeans. The leader of the expedition, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman,nis given the credit for the discovery—but of course he wasn’t thenfirst person to set eyes on the islands we now call New Zealand. n
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nAsna matter of fact, the islands had been settled by people hundreds ofnyears before Tasman’s expedition. As a matter of fact, the Polynesiannpeople who lived on what we now call South Island attacked the Dutchncrew members who were trying to land on the island—and killednseveral of them!
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| This is a drawing made by Tasman’s artist about the skirmish with the South Islanders… |
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nEithernthe trumpet signals exchanged by the Dutch were misinterpreted as anbattle cry, or the South Islanders were smart enough to know that thenEuropeans would make trouble for them and their way of life.
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nTasmanndidn’t try to land a second time, and it wasn’t until Englishnexplorer James Cook revisited New Zealand in the late 18thncentury that Europeans became interested in making a permanentncolony. In 1840 Great Britain annexed the islands.
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Learnnabout the Maori, the native people of New Zealand who settled thenislands around 1250 or 1300 C.E. Here is a great video.
Learnnabout the Maori, the native people of New Zealand who settled thenislands around 1250 or 1300 C.E. Here is a great video. n
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nCrafts 4 Kids has several Maori-inspired crafts.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nSanta Lucia Day
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nAnniversary of Susan B. Anthony dollar
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