Maori Overview

Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Although they are described as one large group of people, they are a combination of many different tribes and units. Within these tribes, there are variations of dialects, habits, and rituals. Before contact with the Europeans, the people did not call themselves Maori. This was an adoption from their language, meaning "normal." They used this word to distinguish themselves from the Europeans.
According to the 1996 census, Maori population is well over 500,000, which is about fifteen percent of the population in New Zealand. Of this number, mo…