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Kōrero: Economic history

Deforestation of New Zealand

  • 2000 AD

  • 1840 AD

  • c. 1000 AD

The extent to which human beings have exploited the natural resources of New Zealand is dramatically illustrated in this map. Before people arrived about 80% of the land mass was covered in trees. In the 500 years before 1840, Māori burnings, and the first forestry by Europeans in the search for naval spars, had reduced the bush by 6.7 million hectares. Over the next 160 years another 8 million hectares was cleared of trees.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Brian Easton, Economic history – First European economies, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/interactive/24319/deforestation-of-new-zealand (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Brian Easton, i tāngia i te 12 April 2010.