Quote:
Originally Posted by waiting4something
What the hell is a Maori? Sounds like some fruity drink with a embrella in it. 
I mean really look at the two countries. The are so damn simular it's uncanny. |
The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. They are a Polynesian people (think "The Rock" aka Dwayne Johnson, but angrier).
Maori
The Maori are culturally inclined to be a warrior race. They are one of the few native peoples to have fought the British Army to a standstill during the 19th century. At one time during the Maori Wars there were around 100,000 British redcoats fighting between 5000 and 10,000 Maori warriors (and the Maori fighters were only part-time soldiers as they still had to return to their villages for the harvests). In the end the British Army only conquered the Maori by marching on their villages one by one and burning everything to the ground. Under the Treaty of Waitangi signed between the British Crown and the Maori, the Maori became full British citizens. The Maori have always been enthusiastic members of the New Zealand Armed Forces and also enthusiastic rugby players (they tend to treat rugby as a form of ritualised warfare).
I am a New Zealander, although I also hold Australian citizenship. I happily regard myself as both Australian and New Zealander but many if not most New Zealanders would be horribly insulted at the suggestion that New Zealand is simply a part of Australia. Canada, Mexico and the USA all occupy the same land mass but I would never suggest that they are all the same country. New Zealand and Australia are separated by a significant stretch of water and are geographically very disimilar. I concede however that the white Australian and white New Zealand cultures are similar.