Kōrero: Death rates and life expectancy

Māori family, 1770s

Māori family, 1770s

In 1773, during James Cook's second voyage of exploration to New Zealand, artist William Hodges sketched a Māori family at Dusky Sound, Fiordland. At this time Māori life expectancy was about 30 years. After Māori contact with Europeans and European diseases, life expectancy declined significantly.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: C-051-031
Engraving after a drawing by William Hodges

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Ian Pool, 'Death rates and life expectancy - Effects of colonisation on Māori', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/artwork/26583/maori-family-1770s (accessed 25 April 2024)

He kōrero nā Ian Pool, i tāngia i te 5 May 2011, reviewed & revised 14 Mar 2019