New Zealand is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean and is divided into two main parts, the North Island and the South Island. New Zealand, for a long time, had barely any mammals besides those that could get there without land. Instead, there were flightless birds, and the predator-free land of New Zealand allowed flightless birds to flourish. Unfortunately for these birds and the natural tree life, New Zealand’s natural isolation wouldn’t save it forever. Eventually, Polynesian settlers arrived, bringing with them dogs and other mammals. Introduced predators have made life very hard for New Zealand’s native birds, and some have gone extinct, while others have been driven to the brink. These Polynesians, called Māori, have close ties to Eastern Polynesian people, but they did develop a distinct culture of arts, crafts, mythology, and language. They hunted the native birds but also planted their own important crops like the sweet potato. Initially settling just the east coast, where the climate was most forgiving, the Māori would eventually spread across New Zealand, forming their own tribes. Contact with Europeans would be made hundreds of years later when, in 1642, the first known European explorer arrived: Abel Tasman. His contact with the Māori was hardly positive, probably due to some sort of cultural misunderstanding. His expedition was attacked, and four of his men were killed. This is obviously a bad start to European-Māori relations, but don’t worry—it gets much worse. Europeans wouldn’t really return until 1769, when James Cook, a British sailor, made three voyages into the Pacific Ocean and completed the first circumnavigation of New Zealand. Even today, his map of New Zealand isn’t half bad. In 1840, sort of where New Zealand began. Māori and Brits came together to sign a document which created New Zealand as a British sovereign state ruled by a British governor. It’s a huge national holiday and generally considered a big deal. It was hardly the beginning of lasting peace between peoples, though—partially because the treaty was interpreted differently by Māori and British, who had different understandings of how land ownership works, and partially because the Brits didn’t do a great job of enforcing it. And partially because not everyone agreed to it. It wasn’t signed by everyone. The treaty was translated by a guy who wasn’t even fluent in Māori. By 1868, New Zealand was starting to shape up into something somewhat recognizable to the modern day. There was a representative parliament. New Zealand largely governed itself rather than leaning on Australia, and in 30 short years, New Zealand would become the first country to give women the vote. But that doesn’t mean the 20th century was short of events, or that they were any less important. New Zealand played a large role in the First World War, where we served loyally under Britain. With only 1.1 million in the entire country, the cost of sending 100,000 troops was a huge chunk of the population. New Zealand famously fought bravely at Gallipoli, as well as contributing to the Somme and Passchendaele. New Zealand began a bold trend of punching above its weight on the global stage. In 1951, the ANZUS pact was signed, guaranteeing New Zealand protection underneath the United States. This defense policy is still in effect today, but there is tension due to New Zealand’s nuclear-free stance clashing with the United States. 1981 saw a huge cultural divide in New Zealand as people were torn between the proper stance on South Africa’s racism as it relates to sport. On one hand, rugby isn’t meant to be political, but on the other hand, racism is a serious issue, and we can’t support the Springbok tour. The tour would eventually go ahead, but numerous games were shut down due to intense protesting. Today, new Zealand is a quite peaceful country with