The Ministry of Education is supporting season two of this RNZ podcast. Fourteen new episodes of the video series and podcasts will be available, as well as short animations for younger audiences. Accompanying teacher guidance will be provided for the series.

Radio New Zealand – The Aotearoa History Show (season 2)

Hosted by William Ray & Leigh-Marama McLachlan, with animation by Chris Maguren. Made possible by the RNZ/NZ On Air Innovation Fund.

Available: From Term 2, 2022

Season 2 Ep 2: Māori: The First 500 YearsEpisode 2: Māori: The First 500 Years

The first 500 years of Māori settlement in Aotearoa saw significant, dynamic changes to
how people lived; changes that challenge the idea of Māori culture as something carved in stone.

In this episode:

  • How Māori arrived in Aotearoa.
  • How the first few generations seem to have lived.
  • Evidence of Aotearoa’s “first capital city” at Wairau Bar and the role it may have played in early Māori society.
  • How the extinction of megafauna and a cooling climate seem to have triggered major changes in Māori ways of life.
  • Why Māori had different lifestyles in different parts of Aotearoa.
  • How Māori traded and settled disputes.
  • How the end of the “little ice age” seemed to trigger more changes in Māori ways of life.

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