Maori people - What do you know of them?

Hi, nativepukeko. From what I know through my previous subject of "History" in school, Maori legend says that the Maori came from "Hawaiki", the legendary homeland about 1000 years ago. When the Maori arrived in Aotearoa (New Zealand) they found a land of volcanic activity and snow capped mountains. Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand and means Land of the long white cloud. There are many theories about the origins of the Maori. The Maori say that the island of Hawaiki could have been near Hawaii. The commonly accepted theory today, says that the Maori originated in China, and travelled via Taiwan, the Philippines to Indonesia, onto Melanesia and reached Fiji. From there to Samoa and on to the Marquesas and turned South West to Tahiti, thence to the Cook Islands and to Aotearoa/New Zealand. Some believe that the Maori found Aotearoa probably by chance as they were probably blown off course. But there is also evidence that the Maori had sophisticated ancient knowledge of the stars and ocean currents and this knowledge is carCarvingved in their "whare" (houses). The term "Whakapapa" is used to describe Maori genealogy. The word "Papa" doesn't mean father but rather anything broad, flat and hard such as a flat rock. Whakapapa means to place in layers and this is the way that different orders of genealogies are looked at. One generation upon another. The Maori term for descendant is "uri", its precise meaning is offspring or issue. Happy Postings and Earnings, nativepukeko. HAPPY DAPPY.