| New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major land
masses. Polynesian settlers arrived in their waka some time between
the 11th century and the 13th century to establish the indigenous
Māori culture. New Zealand's Māori name, Aotearoa, is usually
translated as "Land of the long white cloud", reputedly referring to
the cloud the explorers saw on the horizon as they approached.
Settlement of the Chatham Islands to the east of the mainland produced
the Moriori people; linguistic evidence, in particular the innovations
uniquely shared by the Moriori and Māori languages, indicates that
they moved there from New Zealand. Most of New Zealand was
divided into tribal territories called rohe, resources within which
were controlled by hapū ('subtribes'). Māori adapted their
tropically-based culture to eating the local marine resources, flora
and fauna for food. They also hunted the giant flightless moa (which
soon became extinct). They showed great ingenuity in adapting their
tropical agricultural technology to a temperate climate, successfully
cultivating taro, gourds, kumara (sweet potato), and other plants
which they introduced from Polynesia; it is thought that kūmara were
grown as far south as Banks Peninsula in the middle of the South
Island. While it was fairly easy to grow these crops in the north,
these warm-climate crops were impractical in the south of the South
Island. However, inter-regional trade and the exploitation of the few
food plants of the local flora made up the difference. They also
introduced other plants such as the paper mulberry or 'aute', used to
make barkcloth for kites and for personal adornment.
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