This does simply not correspond to reality. In fact it took much time and strong efforts to teach them English. Even today the gap between Maori and European languages is so vast that there are many Maori words whose meanings are almost impossible to grasp for non-Maori. I learned this as I chatted with a Maori student, attending a university in Paris, who is supposed to know a lot about his folk's history since he has done much research for a work he plans to publish. I found his opinion confirmed as I searched the Internet.
These communication difficulties let to many misunderstandings between New Zealand natives and European immigrants, which not seldom caused bloody clashes. .
Other false information in Encarta concern the first Maori-king who wasn't Te Koote but Potatau Te Wherewhero chief of the Waikato-tribe. .
2. Maori encounter New Zealand.
Today it is not exactly known when the first settlers set foot on New Zealand since history was handed down mostly orally. Scientists assume the first ancestors of today's Maori originating from the Cook Islands, Society Islands and Marquesas Islands arrived between 800 and 1200. Today, DNA-analysis proves that the Maori originally came from south-east Asia, probably from China. From there they immigrated to Polynesia. They sailed the ocean long before the Europeans did; only using the stars or the direction of sea birds in flight as guides. .
According to legends New Zealand was discovered by the sailor Kupe from the legendary Maori hometown "Hawaiki-, presumably Tahiti nowadays. His wife was with him. It's said that as they approached the islands, it was her who compared them to a long white cloud, or as Maori would say: "Aotearoa-. Back in Hawaiki, Kupe reported in detail about the way to the new big islands. 400 years passed before immigration to NZ, due to emerging famine and wars, began.
Down to the present day, Maori can trace their descent back to the arrival of the first Polynesian, the members of the "Great Fleet- - formed by seven "wakas-.
