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The Maori And Indigenous People Of New Zealand Essay

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“The Maori”
Introduction:
The Maori are an unfriendly and indigenous people of New Zealand. They are culturally related to Eastern Polynesians. They call themselves “Tongata” meaning the usual or ordinary people. My quest is to give you some insight on their infrastructure, social structure, and super structure. We will take a look at how they survived through the years and also learn about their Tapu (sacredness). Their marriage system, kinship, religious beliefs, and more will be explored.
Infrastructure:
Subsistence: The Maori subsistence consisted of fishing, hunting and cultivation. They were expert hunters/gatherers and fisherman. They planted potatoes, taro, yams and gourds. (Latham, C. (2009). To catch fish they would create nets and traps they also used fishing line. They Maori gathered berries, roots, shoots and shellfish. Rats were also captured and eaten. During the winter season was when hunting was most important. The Kai (food) was from the Bush Rivers and the ocean. It was distributed among the people communally. (McKerchan C., Bower S., Heta C. Signal and Matoe, L. (2015)
Economy/Settlements: The Maori today is a minority making up only about 10% of New Zealand’s population. . (Latham, C. 2009) In the beginning there were two types of settlements; Pa (fortified) and Kianga (unfortified). The Pa was where the people would go during times of war; located usually on a hill protected by platforms, Earth works and ditches. The Kianga were hamlets that were about

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