Elsdon Best, 1856–1931
Like Percy Smith and Edward Tregear, Best was a founding member of the Polynesian Society. He published widely on diverse aspects of pre-European Māori social life and material culture. Although the historical accuracy of his accounts of Māori migrations and pre-European society has been questioned, he was seen as New Zealand's foremost ethnographer of Māori society.
Learn more at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
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Stephenson Percy Smith, 1840–1922
Together with Edward Tregear, Smith founded the Polynesian Society in 1892. He was co-editor of the Journal of the Polynesian Society and its chief contributor until his death in 1922. In an attempt to explain the arrival of Māori in New Zealand from Polynesia, Smith studied tribal genealogies and came up with an arrival date of 1350 for a ‘great fleet’ of seven canoes.
Learn more at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
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