Culture of New Zealand

The culture of New Zealand is largely inherited from British and European custom, interwoven with Maori and Polynesian tradition. An isolated Pacific Island nation, New Zealand was comparatively recently settled by humans. Initially Māori only, then bicultural with colonial and rural values, now New Zealand is a cosmopolitan culture that reflects its changing demographics, is conscious of the natural environment, and is an educated, developed Western society.

Māori culture has predominated for most of New Zealand's history of human habitation. Māori voyagers reached the islands of New Zealand some time before 1300, though exact dates are uncertain. Over the ensuing centuries of Māori expansion and settlement, Māori culture diverged from its Polynesian roots. Māori established separate tribes, built fortified villages (Pā), hunted and fished, traded commodities, developed agriculture, arts and weaponry, and kept a detailed oral history. Regular European contact began approximately 200 years ago, and British immigration proceeded rapidly during the nineteenth century.

The colonists had a dramatic effect on the indigenous Maori, bringing religion, technology, and the English language. In 1840 Māori leaders signed the Treaty of Waitangi, intended to enable the tribes to live peacefully with the colonists. However after several incidents, the treaty was ignored and the New Zealand land wars broke out from 1845, with Māori suffering a loss of land and identity, while also increasingly becoming a minority group over the following century. Despite such setbacks, Māori culture has regained much of its lost influence in recent decades.

European New Zealanders (Pākehā), despite their location far from Europe, retained strong cultural ties to "Mother England." These ties were weakened by the demise of the British Empire and loss of special access to British meat and dairy markets. Pākehā began to forge a separate identity influenced by their pioneering history, a rural lifestyle and New Zealand's unique environment. Pākehā culture became prevalent after the land wars, but after sustained political efforts, biculturalism and the Treaty of Waitangi became part of the school curriculum in the late 20th century, to promote understanding between Māori and Pākehā.

More recently, New Zealand culture has been broadened by globalization and immigration from the Pacific Islands, East Asia and South Asia. European and Māori remain the two largest ethnicities, but the large Polynesian population in Auckland has prompted the observation that Auckland is now the largest Polynesian city in the world. However, the country outside of Auckland is still much less heterogeneous, with big parts of the South Island remaining predominantly of European descent.

New Zealand marks two national days of remembrance, Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day, and also celebrates holidays during or close to the anniversaries of the founding dates of each province. The national anthem, "God Defend New Zealand" is often sung with alternating Māori and English verses. Many citizens prefer to minimise ethnic divisions, simply calling themselves New Zealanders or Kiwis.