Activity 2: Discovering Aotearoa [4 points]
Many people believe that Kupe was the first explorer to discover Aotearoa, New Zealand in about 1300.
He navigated his way by waka to Aotearoa from Hawaiki using traditional Polynesian navigation techniques - just like Nainoa Thompson (from Activity 1) did much later on.
Legend says that he followed a great octopus all the way to Aotearoa/New Zealand and finally destroyed it in Cook Strait (the water between the North and South Islands).
Many years later, a Dutch explorer from The Netherlands, Abel Tasman, was exploring the Pacific Ocean when he came across New Zealand.
He thought that he was the first person to ‘discover’ the country (despite the fact that Māori already lived in New Zealand!) and made the claim in 1642 that he had ‘discovered’ a new land. His exploration of New Zealand inspired many other European explorers to follow his lead and travel to the Oceania.
Kupe and Abel Tasman were two different men from two very different backgrounds (cultures) who shared a common interest - exploration.
My own cultural experiences are with Denmark every year my family(me my 3 siblings and my grandparents) head down to a place called Valhalla (very close to goat island).
we always for everyday at lunch have open sandwiches witch is just a sandwich with no top and we have dinner and desert computations and then we have a time were we just play till the fire place is ready to sit round as read.
my Grandad comes from Denmark which by law means my family is Danish because my grandad fostered my mum i know hes kind but yeah he is danish and i am also a quter viking and an 8th dutch. my step dad came from south Africa and yeah Thats My family culture.
Hej Courtney, I hope you’re having a fantastic day so far!
ReplyDeleteThank you for doing week one, day one, activity two. It was really cool to read where you and your family is from and some of your family traditions. I'm really interested to know more - what is important or special to you and your family? What language(s) do you speak?
I am Pākehā but my dad’s family comes from England and my Mum’s family comes from Scotland and Canada, which is pretty cool because it means I can go and live in all of these countries if I want to! My family is quite small and live in many different places, but I have a lot of friends and family friends who are like family to me. The most important thing about my family is that we are really open and honest and have great communication, my parents are also really loving towards me :)
I only speak English but I would love to learn Te Reo Maori and Spanish.
Thanks for posting! I look forward to reading more of your posts over the summer :)
Eliza :)