Local Māori had great hopes of the new settlement of Wellington, but the reality was different. Māori engaged in trade and worked for wages, but were physically crowded by settlers. In 1850, ten years after Wellington was established, around 300 Māori lived amidst 4000 settlers in Wellington. Nearly 80 lived in the harbour side pā of Kaiwharawhara and Ngāuranga. Around 180 shared the lower Hutt Valley with over 700 settlers. Over the next twenty years, the Māori population fell to under 150, a product of a high death rate, a low birth rate and the return of many to their Taranaki homeland. The Pākehā population reached 10,000 during the same period.
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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Reference: NZMap 864a (crop)
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