1769: Cook’s Arrival in New Zealand Was a Disaster?
December 16, 2020
By AHNZ
Cook’s arrival in New Zealand was a disaster? Compared to what?“Māori were an independent, self-governing people. Their territories were abundant with life…Today, 250 years later, Māori are no longer self-governing, their waterways are severely degraded, and for an unacceptably high number of Māori, the risk of dying an early death, or becoming homeless, or being incarcerated, is an all too likely reality.”– Cook’s arrival was a disaster for Māori. Britain’s half-hearted apology isn’t good enough, Guardian (2020)
Were the New Zealanders going to be some hidden Atlantis for the rest of time, never joining the community of planet Earth?The Dutch wouldn’t get them, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Americans either, as well as not Cook’s British…hidden!
Developing advanced technologies from their vibranium mines….inventing atomic physics and germ theory and bubble gum all on their own! Until, one day, sending a Maori Wonder Woman to teach the world how to love. And fight crime.
“The face that launched a thousand Slave Culture plaudits. This is Tina Ngata, aka NonPlasticMaori, from the Twitter division of ‘Dept of Internal(ised Racism) Affairs’.”- What is up with Māori these days they wanna whine about everything
Or perhaps a renegade Maori Timelord would leave the hidden islands to try to give the rest of the world a little help? Is that what we’re using as a baseline comparison, the non-colonisation hypothetical destiny that was thwarted? Could have been the plot of Wonder Woman but for that pesky Yorkshireman, Cook?
I’d love to read Tina Ngata’s thesis. It really does sound like it would make a great plot for the next Wonder Woman film. Perhaps starring herself?Sorry Cook got in the way of your moment, Princess.
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Anarchist History of New Zealand: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.- WOPR, War Games (1983)
