American Reacts to New Zealand History - HUGE birds?! 

How on Earth does this channel not have more subscribers? I mean sheesh. The quality and entertainment of these videos is so good! As an American hoping to someday move to NZ, I really enjoy every single one of your uploads. Thank you for all your hard work!

Regarding giant birds, most NZers know of the moa but surprisingly few (in my experience) know about Haast's eagle - the largest bird of prey known to have existed in modern times, so big it's believed they preyed on moa as food. They probably also preyed on humans too once Maori arrived, as they were very quickly hunted to extinction.

Quick brief history of New Zealand in deep time .Around 80millions years ago ,the land mass that would be come NZ began it slow journey from Gondwana land .This land mass is called Zealandia ,it' was rather flat and infertile soils. It would have looked a lot like Ireland is today but had many Australian plants growing here which need infertile soils .As Zealandia drifted away it became to sink (I won't go into why this happened ),around 30million years ago most of Zealandia was under water .Likely only islands in the north and south were left .Around 27 million years ago ,the fault lines that made Zealandia drift away stopped/deactivated and the faults lines we have today activated .The land mass we call New Zealand began it's slow journey rising up out of the ocean .Fossils found from 20million yrs ago in Otago have captured what life was like at this stage .We had fresh water crocodiles ,early kiwi birds (1/3 smaller than todays Kiwi's )and Moa relatives ,and one tiny jaw bone of a mammal or marsupial (not enough of this creature has being found to let us know which is was ,but it wasn't a bat ) also the mother of all parrots was here ,standing about a metre tall ,we had a tiny coconut species here and other palms ,and classic Australian trees like Eucalyptus ,and Allcasarina's .Also an armoured tortoise (that was also living in New Caledonia ). I've personally found fossil leaf's/seeds/fruits of plants today found only in the tropical belt of the southern hemisphere . Life was rather warm and not much changed until around 2.6million yrs ago ,with the coming of the ice ages .This period saw the end of all warm climate plants and creatures .Many birds found in Australia/pacific would fly/cross the Tasman sea and begin life here and evolve into new forms ,including a little swamp eagle from Australia that would become the worlds largest eagle -called Haasts eagle ,four times bigger than the bald eagle ,and hunted Moa . Ps the Kiwi birds closest relative is the extinct elephant bird from Madagascar ,so we know they once flew here and become Kiwi ,in Madagascar they became huge elephant birds .Life was pretty good here for millions of years the coming and going of ice ages had effects ,then Man arrived .This is the end of my NZ deep time .Key thing -New Zealand has had many amazing huge creatures and creatures we don't think off being here like crocodiles and even at least one non bat mammal/Marsupial ,New Zealand may seem ancient and unchanging ,but we have had huge changes ,the one main big life form that can be traced back to Gondwana land is the Kauri tree ,it has seen it all over 80million years . New Zealand is truly amazing

As you delve deeper into the history and names of NZ places, you will find that they not only have European names but also Maori names, sometimes they can be somewhat problematic to pronounce, hence the European version being more commonly spoken. Arguments can be known to be caused because of the mispronunciation of cities, some sounding like swearing, some sounding like a joke and some sounding so phonetic that people forget that it was originally labelled by the Maori, eg 'Whang' sounds like 'Wang' when it should sound like 'Fang'. A joke sounding name is Waikikamukau which sounds like "Why kick a moo cow" A swearing name - Whakarewarewa which sounds like "Fu#k a rewa rewa" A phonetic name like Whangarei, people mispronounce with "Wang a ray" when it's pronounced as "Fong a ray" with the vibration at the R that can sound like a car engine.

Rainbow Warrior was not a New Zealand ship. "Rainbow Warrior was commissioned by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) as a trawler called Sir William Hardy. It was built in 1955, in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was later purchased by the environmental organization Greenpeace UK."

Check out about the Haast Eagle. The largest eagle that ever existed

My Great Grandad fought at Gallipoli. And grandad fought in North Africa, then in the Pacific Islands. On dad's side grandpop fought for Australia in the Pacific. He left out quite a lot. Mt Cook/Aoraki.

That video glossed over the Rainbow Warrior incident. It had an important relationship with the Anzus treaty (which i am not even sure why the ANZUS treaty is mentioned in the original video if he was not going to talk about the connection it had to the Rainbow Warrior incident, since it has little to fuck all to do with the History of NZ otherwise). NZ set a policy of banning all nuclear vessels in NZ ports in the 80s. Since the US refused to say which of their vessels were nuclear this meant that ALL US naval vessels became banned from NZ ports. The US threw a hissy fit and threatened that the banning would mean the end of the ANZUS treaty. NZ still would not budge. Then US intelligence learned of the French plot to commit terrorism in NZ. The US deliberately with-held this information in a effort to punish NZ for not allowing their Naval vessels to dock in NZ waters. Result, the French government committed terrorism in NZ and the US knew about it far in advance but deliberately did not tell NZ.

Nice to see your face Morgan and yes I fully understand you being left with more questions than answers, the script was rubbish. I'm a deaf girl so read a heck of a lot, our very early history is based on hand down information, even before the Brits arrived. (Maori wars did exist) I'm going to say even that original information has been manipulated with different people adding their perspective and story line - it is natural. As you are well aware interpretation of any language can be a nightmare. I can example one word without being crude, fanny - American = bum, Kiwi = well not ya bum but the other. I'm not fluent in Maori, because I am a deaf kid and although there are some aligned signings, which are universal, all is predominately based around English language. Good on you wanting to know, there's so much you can read and there is so much at cross purposes. Autumn is here, different?? to the States, certainly the daylight hours are getting shorter. Hug to ya, Stephanie.

For a more detailed run through the history of Aotearoa, The Penguin History of New Zealand by Sir Michael King is superb. While a bit dated now - as it only goes up to 2000-ish - the historian was/is respected by Māori and Pākehā alike.

Hi Morgan love the vlog.

there were also giant eagles that preyed on those giant 12-foot Moa's. . .biggest eagle ever apparently by quite some margin. . . and I heard apparently there was no misinterpretation of the treaty but two different versions... the white version and the brown version. . which is why there's still such a stink still going on around it...

The moa and kiwi flew here and became flightless after arrival.

Now before people start commenting that the maori were the big bad Wolve when it came to the demise of the moa lets Just get a couple things cleared up, the hunting of the moa to its extinction by the maori was not a senseless act of slaughter or greed but food and clothing to sustain a people, back then the maori and many others knew nothing of sustainability or farming for that matter, the human evolution ladder as you know is very slow so basically they only knew what they knew oblivious to what was happening, and besides the hasst eagle also had the moa on its menu, in the end there was only room for one, the maori, thankyou...✌️

Watch Skeletons in the closet by Gabi Plum . Very interesting pre-Maori history

Maori had no written language before the English arrived and converted the phonetics of their speech with the English alphabet... as best they could. I think the treaty was signed by more than 500 Maori C hiefs.

The not so far back in years NZ birds were unique, the Eagle (biggest in the world) Moa (tallest flightless bird) were predominant but hunted to extinction, Without human intervention they would still be around today. NZ had it's own natural predators until man arrived. Given that NZ was covered in natural forest from tip to toe, birds didn't have to fly to forage and through evolution became flightless. (We have a lot to answer for). I would suggest you take a hike through one of our natural forests, they do vary from north to south (Milford), you'll love it guaranteed and you can well imagine Moa, the Eagle, Kiwi, all our chorus birds surrounding you. (me, I visualize)

Are you phoebe buffay from newyork

You are so much fun to watch. I wish you were my history teacher in my days they were so boring to listen to.

Missionaries taught colonial maori English. The problem with the treaty is Thier is 2 versions. As with most languages moari doesn't precisely translate into English hense the contraversy

The Treaty of Waitangi, often thought of as the country's founding document, was later betrayed by the duplicitous British in a modus operandi that meant that at one point they controlled 25% of the Worlds land and sea areas. But essentially, Maori believed that they were signing a document that would be reigned by the British Crown but at the same time would hold ownership of the land. Although, I'm not sure to what extent ownership in a European context is the same as this is to Maori. Anyhoo, betrayal by the British lead to the land wars that lead to vast areas of Maori land being annexed by the imperialist British. All colonisation means that there is a winner and and looser. As time moved on, Maori became marginalised, patronised, became useful as soldiers to fight Britains and so also New Zealand's enemies. The 28th Army (Maori) Battalion were courageous and skilled fighters and respected by friends and foe alike. Some of their deeds of fearless bravery, often preferring close hand to hand combat an alternative to longer distance rifle fire earned them great respect as only fighting men can understand. My wife's whakapapa goes way back into antiquity and our children are inheritors of this knowledge of their ancestry. Maori seems more immediate because they established tribal societies before European discovery and latter on, colonisation. British culture started to become diluted, albeit slowly at first, by the presence in New Zealand of American military forces. The US Navy's Great White Fleet - the ships were painted white, their ship visits began a slow surge of American fighting ships and Marines culminating to an everyday event until the 2nd US Marine Corps whose last training here just prior to the retaking of Guadelcanal then occupied by the military of Imperial Japan. US soldiers and Marines then island hoped to the Japanese home islands and after Uncle Sam lost his patience with Japanese prevarication over surrender terms two Japanese cities Horishima and Nagisaki were attacked using Atomic (Nuclear) bombs - one on each of the two Japanese cities. There is understandably even now some controversy- a rewriting of history in some eyes over this attack, some squeamishness over the bombing subsequent to the attack attemps to second guess American thinking many decades after WW2 had been over - the but what is done is done. Post WW2, America and New Zealand enjoyed a close relationship. American cars and trucks had been assembled here since the 1920s/30s or imported built up. British too. When the War in the Pacific was over in 1945, a big number of American military trucks that had been shipped down here from the Pacific for repair, were left abandoned, then used to establish New Zealand's Road Transport Industry worn out previously from nonstop running during WW2. After the war had ended, New Zealand and America continued to have a good and beneficial relationship with each other. Bright and breezy, optimistic American culture and music began to replace British culture that was viewed by the now current post WW2 generation as being dull. And so it was until British Rock n Roll became The Beatles and the Mersey sound from Liverpool, England began to and eventually did dominate music and fashion trends until sometime in the eighties to what ever is going on right now. Back to the early 1980s, New Zealand and the US at what still remains, a very serious falling out. In a reaction developing from French Nuclear testing on their Pacific territory of Muriroa Atoll, NZ sailed a RNZN (Navy) war ship, a Frigite, to the French testing site following a declaration of a "Nuclear Free" Pacific by the NZ Government. The real turning point came about when the USN requested a ship visit to Tamki Makaurau-Auckland from USS Truxton, N.Z authorities requested information whether the ship was Nuclear armed and or propelled to which the USN replied with an official, "neither confirm nor deny" response so that was that. It was only towards the end of last year, 2022, that a USN ship vist was made to Auckland by USS Howard to cooperate with the RNZ Navy joint exercises. New Zealand's one-time staunch no nukes policy seems to have become a little more flexible in a world of changing geopolitics. Yet, perhaps cynically, this new-found change could just as easily been made after a warship visit by the mainland Chinese (CCP) Navy. This is what I can remember just off the top of my head. Additional responses may come from people far more knowledgeable than myself. In any event I hope the above as contributed to an increased understanding of US & NZ relations. Kia Ora Mai. Bruce.

My understanding is unlike most colonised countries the Maori never lost battles, the Australians, Indians Americans, English armies were all bought in to have a go but failed, hence the treaty was the only path to peace. Once signed it was immediately ignored and the fighting recommenced. Unlike the other colonised countries the immigrants didn't want to have conflict with the Maori but to live in harmony, however the govts of the day had other intensions for land acquisition and understandable expansion of the colonies, and the distrust continues as each believes in different interpretations of the treaty.

NZ Colonial History has so many bones of contention and much of it has become political. Every generation in NZ has been taught a different version of events and cannot agree. You will hear myths and legends (as in fireside stories) espoused as facts by some. You will hear romanticised ideals referred to as true. NZ historians have accepted oral histories as unquestionable fact which is unfortunate. You will hear secondary readings and political polemic painted as if they are primary sources. Whatever you are told whether it is by people or from a book, is likely to be slanted in one way or another. The only way to know what happened in colonial times is to go to the Alexander Turnbull Library and read the primary sources yourself.

Kiwi humour is quite dry, although the best way to learn about us kiwis is to grab yourself a kiwi partner... Im available, just saying.. lol

I'm a 47 ye old kiwi who is embarrassingly ignorant in my own history. Perhaps we can go down this journey together

How about the Moriori Genocide?

No miss. NOT to blame the Europeans. Maori wanted guns that they saw, and got them. Europeans are NOT to blame for the use these guns were put to. If I sell you a car, you crash it into another car, thats on YOU the driver, NOT me, the original seller. Listen to what he said again. The translator's DID speak Maori, not entirely fluently, but enough to converse and exchange ideas. Nobody alive now, was there, of course!!! But I am sure lots of talking was done as the Maori asked clarification on certain statements and the converse applied as whites also asked for clarity. I notice with interest, that the Maori have the loss of their land put right with money. You cant judge the past by the standards of today.

Kia ora, don’t be too hard on yourself, unfortunately many NZers don’t know all the details and that’s mostly due to previous Governments not providing the general public information and processes used to create a colony without funding from Britain. Here we are 183 years later and the government is still in the process of resolving treaty grievances (immoral behaviour) from 1840. Roughly 80% ownership of the country had changed hands between 1840 - 1860. The government had enough resources to create collateral funds to build a “COLONIAL OUTPOST”. The French, German and the United States we’re wanting to trade however, the strongest nation at the time was Great Britain, hence the need for a Treaty by both sides. There is copious amounts of information available nowadays with technology however, far too much to write it down in a comment. Where will we be as a nation on the 6th February 2040? Noho ora mai.

When one treaty partner has been driven to near extinction by war and introduced disease, and the other is a vast colonial power, can a treaty ever be said to be equal and balanced? Continued resistance would result in only further loss for the Maori. Just look at what happened to those who opposed! Throw in a fundamental misunderstanding of the language and culture being represented in the Maori language version, and you have a document that can, and was, used to quell the Maori population and suppress their way of life.

Geography now is a better video not too long and a bit more in depth.