The history of New Zealand begins between 800 and 1300 AD, when the Maori people arrived from Polynesia on the mountainous island they called "Aotearoa ". People “lived in tribal groups” quite peacefully (Wilson). However, life for the Māori began to change when they first came into contact with a European in 1642, when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman "discovered" the island. In 1769, “[James] Cook succeeded in circumnavigating the country and mapping the country” (History). These explorations mark the beginning of the Europeanization of the young New Zealand country. Whalers and traders soon arrived, and missionaries arrived in 1814. When the Maori met the Europeans, events followed a path similar to that of the colonization of America and the decimation of the indigenous populations: "the contribution of the firearms…, along with European diseases, led to a sharp decline in the [population] of the Maori people. (History). As a result, "their leaders entered into a pact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded their sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining their territorial rights »....