Story: Ideas of Māori origins
In the 1930s tens of thousands of New Zealand schoolchildren were taught that the original home of the Māori was India – as shown on this page from Whitcombe’s Pictorial story of New Zealand. Scholars such as Edward Tregear thought that the Māori language contained many similarities to the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. Māori themselves were considered to be ‘noble savages’.
About this item
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: P-Box J919.31 WHI 1937
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
