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Story: Economy

Exploiting resources

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Exploiting resources

The first Europeans quickly profited by the available resources. Among the earliest to arrive were sealers who, as this painting shows, used brutal methods to kill seals for oil and fur. By about 1820 the seal harvest in the southern regions of New Zealand was over.

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How to cite this page

Brian Easton, Economy – The European economy: a history, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/3737/exploiting-resources (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Brian Easton, published 3 March 2009, updated 1 September 2016.