This image, from around 1845, is of Māori in the Bay of Islands. They are depicted as great traders, which they were. The early missionary Samuel Marsden likened the Māori to Jews, because of their ‘great natural turn for traffic’. This notion set off a hunt for Semitic origins of Māori.
Using this item
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
A-079-017
Ink and wash drawing by John Williams
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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