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Story: Taupori Māori – Māori population change

Alienation of Māori land: North Island

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Alienation of Māori land: North Island

The alienation of Māori land had chronic effects on Māori population health. In any given region land loss was followed by a significant increase in child mortality rates that took decades to reverse. The life expectation of a newborn Māori girl in the 1880s was in the low 20s; that of a Pākehā girl was in the mid-50s. This map shows the gradual alienation of Māori land in the North Island.

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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 rāua ko Tahu Kukutai, Taupori Māori – Māori population change – Decades of despair, 1840–1900, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/31316/alienation-of-maori-land-north-island (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ian Pool rāua ko Tahu Kukutai, published 10 May 2011.