Story: European ideas about Māori

This hand-coloured engraving by Jakob van der Schley was based on an original work by Isaac Gilsemans, the artist on Abel Tasman's voyage to New Zealand in 1642. It shows (in the background) Māori waka surrounding Tasman's ships during a violent exchange which led to the deaths of four of his men. Tasman named the place Murderers Bay and by the mid-18th century, when van der Schley engraved the scene, the event had become so notorious that the name was prominently displayed in both French and Dutch.