Māori

The Māori, the indigenous Polynesian people of Aotearoa (New Zealand), probably arrived in south-western Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300. They spread throughout the country and developed a distinct culture.

In the Māori language the word māori means “normal”, “natural” or “ordinary”. In legends and other oral traditions, the word distinguished ordinary mortal human beings from deities and spirits (wairua).

Māori people often use the term tangata whenua (literally, “people of the land”) to describe themselves in a way that emphasises their relationship with a particular area of land — a tribe may function as tangata whenua in one area, but not in another. The term can also refer to Māori as a whole in relation to New Zealand (Aotearoa) as a whole.

The text in this article excerpt is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Māori”.