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Story: Te mahi kai – food production economics

First arrivals in New Zealand

Video file

This re-enactment shows some of the items that the ancestors of Māori may have transported to New Zealand in canoes. While pigs and chickens may have been brought, they did not survive long enough to become established – they are not represented in the archaeological record.

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How to cite this page

Manuka Henare, Te mahi kai – food production economics – Initial settlement, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/20252/first-arrivals-in-new-zealand (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Manuka Henare, published 1 March 2009.