The Land Down Under
Friday, December 9th, 2005The first european to arrive at New-Zealand was the dutch Abel Tasman. He had two ships, and when the Maori saw them, they tried to find out his intentions at the common Maori way: they whistled in a shell, knowing that if he answers he means war. Tasman heard the sounds, thought ‘hey, we could do better’, and ordered a trumpet call. That night, a small boat that was sailing between his two ships was attacked with all its sailors killed. Being dutch, Tasman got the message and retreated - leaving the Maori for anothr two peaceful centuries, until Cook arrived. Cook, who was british, was not nearly as tolerant, hwich led to the rather quick british colonialization of this corner of Polynesia during the 19th century. The rather tolerant dutch spirit, however, prevailed - and is one of the strongest impression I got in my visit to this country. Here are some other points to summarize this part of my tour.
