Today New Zealand is home to more than 5 million people. Māori were the first to arrive in New Zealand, journeying in waka (canoes) from Hawaiki about 1,000 years ago. A Dutchman, Abel Tasman, was the first European to sight the country but it was the British who made New Zealand part of their empire.

In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, an agreement between the British Crown and Maori. It established British law in New Zealand and is considered New Zealand’s founding document and an important part of the country’s history. A walk around any New Zealand city today shows what a culturally diverse and fascinating country we have become.