![]() When tribes visit, the visitors are symbolically pulled onto the marae (meeting place) with the shout, Toia mai Te waka! (Haul up the canoe!) Some tribes have no origin canoe, yet are still thought of as waka by other tribes, even though they only refer to themselves as iwi (bones). The commanders of the canoes were said to be direct descendants of the gods and from them are descended the chiefs of the tribes. The tribal origin canoe is also the source of mana (power, prestige, and land ownership) and the focal point of our genealogies, because they regard all members of the tribe as descendants from our ancestral canoe crew. They refer to ourselves as belonging to a waka (canoe) meaning which of the seven or so original canoes that our ancestors came on from the sacred land of Havaiki. They were a tribe or federation of tribes with a common origin. Around 80 percent live in urban areas in Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, and Dunedin. ![]() Approximately 250,000 Maoris live in New Zealand, and most live on the North Island. ![]() The First People of New Zealand are the Maori, whose name for it is Ao-tea-roa. There is much fertile farm land and grazing lands. The South Island has a range of high Alps. It is mountainous and geologically active. It stretches from 46 to 34 degrees of latitude. There are two large islands (North and South) and a number of smaller islands in New Zealand.
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