Cause and Effect British Colonisation

The Justice League collaborated on a cause and effect of British colonisation.

British Colonisation

Prior to 1840, it was mainly whalers, sealers, and missionaries who came to New Zealand. These settlers had contact with Maori, especially in coastal areas. Maori and Pakeha (Europeans) traded extensively, and some Europeans lived among Maori. With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, New Zealand became a British colony. This saw a massive increase in the number of British migrants coming to New Zealand. The effect of British colonisation on Maori was disastrous.

Large numbers of British people left for New Zealand to escape poverty. In Britain at the time and especially Ireland people were starving due to a destructive potato famine. Another possible reason for British migration was the search for a better climate and conditions, especially for farming. Historical evidence also suggests that people left Britain to escape the class system. The class system restricted people from improving their lives. For example if you were born poor you stayed poor regardless of how hard and how much you worked. As a result of these factors British people arrived in Aotearoa in massive numbers. In 1858 Pakeha people outnumbered Maori for the first time.

The colonization of New Zealand by the British had a devastating impact on Maori. The large numbers of settlers led to a huge demand for land, and from the 1840s Māori were under great pressure to sell their land. Due to the loss of land tribes were reduced to living in poverty, losing their access to traditional food sources and having to live in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions. Evidence suggests that colonisation negatively impacted the life expectancy of Maori. Settlers brought muskets which led to the death of 700 Maori per year, they also introduced diseases such as bronchitis and tuberculosis, which also killed large numbers of Māori in the 19th century.

Overall the impact of British colonisation was catastrophic. Maori lost land and their population plummeted. We believe that Maori people need to be better represented in parliament, some of the land should be returned and they should be better respected through people learning their language and history.

We believe we are extended abstract as we used “historical evidence” “possible reason” and “as a result of”. We gave several causes and effects of British colonisation with evidence. We also gave an “overall” with ideas about what we could do to rectify problems caused by colonisation.