The first European to arrive in New Zealand was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. That’s how we got the Dutch-sounding name - from a Dutch mapmaker who first called us Nieuw Zeeland.
A surprisingly long time - 127 years - passed before New Zealand was visited by another European, Captain James Cook. He came in 1769 on the first of three voyages.
European whalers and sealers started visiting regularly and then came traders. By the 1830s the British government was being pressured to curb lawlessness in the country and also to pre-empt the French who were considering New Zealand as a potential colony.
Eventually, at Waitangi on 6 February 1840, William Hobson, New Zealand’s first Governor, invited assembled Māori chiefs to sign a treaty with the British Crown. The treaty was taken all round the country, as far south as Foveaux Strait, for signing by local chiefs, and eventually more than 500 signed.