Story: When was New Zealand first settled?

‘The inside of a hippah, in New Zealand’

‘The inside of a hippah, in New Zealand’

James Cook’s artist John Webber drew this image of a settlement on the island of Motuara, in the Marlborough Sounds. It shows a (‘hippah’) with houses constructed of reeds. It is generally accepted that by the time Webber made his sketches in the 1770s, Polynesians had been settled in New Zealand for around 500 years. They had developed the distinctive culture known as Māori.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: B-098-023
Hand-coloured lithograph by John Webber

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Geoff Irwin and Carl Walrond, 'When was New Zealand first settled? - Extinction and decline', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/3629/the-inside-of-a-hippah-in-new-zealand (accessed 27 April 2024)

Story by Geoff Irwin and Carl Walrond, published 8 Feb 2005, updated 1 May 2016