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Story: Death rates and life expectancy

Māori land loss

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Māori land loss

These maps show the steady loss of Māori land in the North Island between 1860 and 1939 through confiscation and purchase. Without land, many tribes became very poor, living in crowded and unhealthy conditions that allowed disease to spread.

Using this item

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: Claudia Orange, Illustrated history of the Treaty of Waitangi. Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2001, pp. 318–319

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How to cite this page

Ian Pool, Death rates and life expectancy – Effects of colonisation on Māori, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/26591/maori-land-loss (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ian Pool, published 19 April 2011.