To the Winds


 * To the Winds
 * by Jonathan I. Edelstein
 * 19 February 2002


 * Sail to the north,
 * sail always to the north,
 * until the east wind blows. Follow it
 * and turn not,
 * turn not from your course. Turn not to the north
 * lest you wreck your canoe
 * on the great reef. Turn not to the south
 * lest you perish
 * in the oceans of ice. Turn not, and you will reach
 * the great land
 * the western land
 * the country of gold.


 * - Maori navigational chant, fifth century SE

Aotearoa ... Possibly the most far-reaching event in the history of the early Maori was the eruption of the Tarawera volcano in SE 378 [1150 CE]. The ash from the eruption blocked out the sun for two days and settled on the northern island to a depth of almost three feet. By the time the last of the ash had fallen, thousands were dead, and the exodus from the northern island had begun.

To be sure, the island was never entirely abandoned. Its metals were too valuable to forsake; small communities remained around the mines, subsisting on fish. Other fishing villages dotted the coast, especially in the west, and would eventually become the centers of renewed kingdoms. Large-scale human habitation, however, would not return to the northern island for more than twenty years.

The majority of the displaced Maori moved to the southern island, carving out domains and re-creating the fortified towns and temples they had known in the north. It was at this time that the greenstone deposits of the south were discovered, and greenstone tools and weapons began to appear alongside copper and whalebone implements. Within a decade, Maori society had reverted to the same semi-feudal patterns that had existed before the eruption.

There were those, however, who were unable to find places for themselves on the southern island. Many who had been chiefs before the eruption lacked the strength to conquer territories in the south. These eked out an existence at the margins of Maori society, as merchants and raiders in unknown lands. Thus began the Maori Age of Exploration.

To the south, Maori explorers reached the Islands of Seals at the edge of the habitable world FN1; there are stories of journeys still farther south, but these have not been confirmed. No permanent habitations were established on these islands, but the remains of seasonal shelters stand as a memorial to the Maori who came to hunt fur seals. These seasonal settlements are known to have existed well into the seventh century.

To the north and east, the Maori ranged throughout Polynesia. Many tales are told of the Japanese explorers, but it was the Maori canoes that tied the Pacific together. A Polynesian island in the fifth century might be visited by a Japanese ship once in a generation, but the Maori came every year. Maori workmanship has been found as far north as Nan Madol on Pohnpei, although it was most likely carried there by Japanese traders; the Micronesians have a strong oral tradition of Japanese visitors, but they do not remember the Maori.

In Polynesia and Melanesia, though, the Maori are remembered. Maori canoes were welcomed when they came in daylight and stood outside the harbor, because this meant that they had come to trade. When they came for war, they arrived at night, and the first sign of their presence was the dreadful shouts of their warriors. One canoe might come to buy the islanders' wares, and the next to plunder and enslave them; there are even records of Maori war chiefs winning kingdoms and establishing dynasties in the far reaches of Polynesia.

Within a generation after the eruption, many of the Maori warrior-merchants had become immensely rich. They were able to raise great bands of armed men and take their places as iwi chiefs, either by resettling the northern island or conquering the domains of weaker chiefs. This naturally led to a great deal of internecine warfare on Aotearoa. Although certain institutions such as the kingship, the market towns and the priesthood were remarkably stable during the fifth century, the iwi chiefs did not rest secure, and there was a constant supply of displaced iwi to join the ranks of merchant-raiders or become exiles in new lands...

... By 410 [1182 CE], the Maori merchant-raiders had begun to build the first great monuments to commemorate their conquests. None of these monuments have survived to the present, because they were made of wood rather than brick or stone, but contemporary accounts suggest that they were spectacular. The monument- building process began with two or more great hardwood trunks, joined together by sockets carved at the ends. The wood was then cured, and scenes of the life and deeds of the builder -- as well as likenesses of the gods -- were carved on the surface. The entire monument was raised aloft by means of levers and guy ropes. The lower end was buried as deep as thirty feet in the earth in order to secure the structure, with further balance provided by the guy ropes.

The process of constructing one of these monuments was similar to that of erecting an Egyptian obelisk, but the Maori structures rose much higher. The tallest known monument, described by Persian travelers in the late fifth century, is believed to have consisted of twelve mighty tree trunks and risen nearly six hundred feet from the ground. Although the rituals of monument-building remain obscure, they typically involved the labor of an entire kingdom, and nobody could commission one unless granted the right by a council of elders and priests. The building of a monument was considered the culmination of an exemplary life, and reserved for great warriors and explorers; even kings often lived out their lives without a monument being built in their honor...

... The greatest of the new lands that opened to the Maori was the great island to the west. For almost a century after the first landing in SE 383 [1165 CE], a steady stream of settlers landed on the southeast coast of the continent, especially after the discovery of its rich gold and copper deposits. The Paleolithic natives were unable to offer effective resistance, and the coastal tribes were quickly conquered and enslaved by the Maori invaders. Slavery, however, was a highly flexible institution among the fifth-century Maori, and slaves who proved themselves through hard work or valor in battle were accepted into the Maori councils.

In the interior, the native tribes proved more resilient. They were spared the initial shock of the Maori invasions and were often able to fight off one Maori raiding party with weapons bought from another. Man for man, the Maori were superior in battle due to their more advanced weaponry, but the natives outnumbered them, and knew the territory...

... The Maori explored the new land as they did the sea, sending out patrols in force to seek out opportunities for trade or plunder. It was one of these patrols that encountered a party of Company scouts in the early spring of 418 [1190 CE]...

Return to Submission posts.