New Zealand, made with several small islands and two main ones, is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea, around 2,000 kilometres far from Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji Islands. It is 270,000 km² large, with three million people living in the northern island and one million in the southern. The main economic resource stands in sheep breeding, for wool, meat and dairy products which constitute the most important exports. Tourism is also an essential source of incomes for the country, which welcomes around 1.5 million foreigners every year. New Zealand is seen abroad as a young and dynamic nation, with spectacular landscapes and a unique natural environment. New Zealand was unknown until the 19th century when European explorers came and marked the beginning of the colonisation and the settlement of many English entrepreneurs. Culture assimilation is a hot topic in the current civilizations, since the number of empires is decreasing and newly independent countries are trying to make their way on the international scene by asserting their own specificities. Mentalities have changed since the time of colonisation, and people are more likely to revive old extinct traditions today. The recurrent question is: how can two cultures coexist without trying to override each other and lead the daily life of a country?
[...] CONCLUSION New Zealand is one of the numerous examples of the difficulty to make people live together and cope with culture shock. Yet, unlike France or the USA where the problem lies in immigration, the minority of New Zealand going through racism is actually the first population of the country. Being the former inhabitants of the nation gives them a very special advantage faced with the colonists, and that might be a reason why it is so hard to settle a judgment about this issue. [...]
[...] Then what is the status of Maori culture in New Zealand? Is their search for identity the sign of a real renewal or just a tourist attraction? A Historical background Pre-European life New Zealand is one of the last lands human people put the foot on. It is said that the first people to get there were tribes coming from the island of Hawaiiki, which would be the actual Raiatea Island next to Tahiti. They came by canoe between the 8th and the 13th century. [...]
[...] It was created in 1998, but the idea of a museum about Maori cultural heritage was born in 1984: the Maori” exhibition that took place in the Metropolitan Museum of New York that year clearly made people become aware of the fact that Maori culture had unexploited riches. In its first year of existence, the museum attracted more than two million people, and it has gained since then an international reputation, thanks to the original way it presents the numerous treasures and history of the nation. [...]
[...] In 1989, the New Zealand government finally granted their wish, and in 1993 it spent 150 million dollars to buy half of the shares of the biggest fishing company of the country, Sealord Products, and give them to the Maori community. The government also presented official apologies for the damage caused to Maori people. In the years 1990, the New Zealand government did a lot to meet Maori people's desires with money and land. It seems like the New Zealanders were feeling guilty about their ancestors' behaviour, and wanted to make up for their mistakes. [...]
[...] Maori people would fight frequently, maybe because of the lack of food or the arrival of new Maori settlers in the country. Wars were codified: every tribe had its own troop made with a hundred soldiers, wearing jade or bone weapons and organizing strategies and ambushes. Maori appreciated wars because they allowed them to get away for a while from the limited activities of the villages. Besides, they would give them another source of food: the bodies of the losers. [...]
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