Lake Taupo with Mt Doom in the background

New Zealand's North Island: history, scenery, and fun facts

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February 29th 2012
New Zealand has been a wonderful journey. You can tell this country was colonized less than two hundred years ago. The relationship the New Zealanders have with the native culture is very different from anywhere else I have been. Maybe because they had more experience with taking over the locals or because the Maori were cannibalistic and cooked a few unsavory European interlopers, but Europeans d ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington » Lower Hutt

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The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year... ... read more