Editing South Island (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2021}}
{{further|History of New Zealand}}

[[File:Opihi rock drawing2.jpeg|thumb|Charcoal rock drawing at Carters rockpool on the [[Ōpihi River]]]]
[[File:Gilsemans 1642.jpg|right|thumb|First European impression of Māori, at [[Golden Bay / Mohua|Murderers' Bay]], 1642]]
[[File:Akaroa Harbour Ships And Whare.jpg|thumb|Ships in what is likely to be [[Akaroa Harbour]] some time in the early 19th century]]
[[File:Gabriels Gully In Otago Gold Rush.jpg|thumb|[[Gabriel's Gully]] during the [[Otago gold rush]], 1862]]
[[File:Benmore Power Stn NZ.jpg|thumb|[[Benmore Dam]] is the largest of eight dams within the [[Waitaki River|Waitaki]] power scheme and was commissioned in 1965.]]

=== Pre-history ===
Charcoal drawings can be found on limestone rock shelters in over 550 different locations across the South Island.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nhc.net.nz/index/museum-new-zealand/maori-cave-art/maori-cave-art.htm |title=Very Old Maori Rock Drawings |publisher=Natural Heritage Collection |access-date=15 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224214113/http://nhc.net.nz/index/museum-new-zealand/maori-cave-art/maori-cave-art.htm |archive-date=24 February 2009 }}</ref> Stretching from [[Kaikōura]] to [[North Otago]], the drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old and portray animals, people and fantastic creatures, possibly stylised reptiles. Some of the birds pictured are long extinct, including [[moa]] and [[Haast's eagle]]s. They were drawn by early [[Māori people|Māori]], but by the time Europeans arrived, local Māori did not know the origins of the drawings.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Big Picture: A history of New Zealand art from. 1642 |last=Keith |first=Hamish |isbn=978-1-86962-132-2 |year=2007 |pages=11–16 |publisher=Godwit }}</ref>

=== Classical Māori period ===
Early inhabitants of the South Island were the [[Waitaha (South Island iwi)|Waitaha]]. They were largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the [[Kāti Māmoe]] in the 16th century.<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201123/http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=df5193bc-b315-4a9c-a9bb-2a2f88a3557a&chapter=1 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url=http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=df5193bc-b315-4a9c-a9bb-2a2f88a3557a&chapter=1 |title=The Ngāi Tahu Claim: Supplementary Report on Ngāi Tahu Legal Personality |publisher=Waitangi Tribunal |at=section 2.2 }}</ref>

Kāti Māmoe were in turn largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the [[Kāi Tahu]] who migrated south in the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael King |title=The Penguin History of New Zealand |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-14-301867-4 |page=90 |publisher=Penguin Books }}</ref> While today there is no distinct Kāti Māmoe organisation, many Kāi Tahu have Kāti Māmoe links in their [[whakapapa]] and especially in the far south of the island.

Around the same time, a group of Māori [[Polynesian navigation|migrated]] to ''Rēkohu'' (the [[Chatham Islands]]), where, in adapting to the local climate and the availability of resources, they [[ethnogenesis|eventually evolved into a separate people]] known as the [[Moriori]] with [[Moriori language|its own distinct language]] – closely related to the parent culture and language in [[mainland New Zealand]]. One notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on [[pacifism]], proved disadvantageous when Māori [[warrior]]s arrived in the 1830s aboard a chartered European ship.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/MaoriNewZealanders/Moriori/4/en |title=Moriori – The impact of new arrivals |publisher=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |date=4 March 2009 |access-date=12 November 2010 }}</ref>

In the early 18th century, [[Kāi Tahu]], a [[Māori people|Māori]] [[iwi|tribe]] who originated on the east coast of the [[North Island]], began migrating to the northern part of the South Island. There they and [[Kāti Māmoe]] fought Ngāi Tara and [[Rangitāne]] in the [[Wairau River|Wairau Valley]]. Ngāti Māmoe then ceded the east coast regions north of the [[Waiau Toa / Clarence River]] to Kāi Tahu. Kāi Tahu continued to push south, conquering [[Kaikōura]]. By the 1730s, Kāi Tahu had settled in [[Canterbury Region|Canterbury]], including [[Banks Peninsula]]. From there they spread further south and into the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]].<ref name=teara-ngaitahu />

In 1827–28, [[Ngāti Toa]] under the leadership of [[Te Rauparaha]] successfully attacked Kāi Tahu at Kaikōura. Ngāti Toa then visited [[Kaiapoi Pā]], ostensibly to trade. When they attacked their hosts, the well-prepared Kāi Tahu killed all the leading Ngāti Toa chiefs except Te Rauparaha. Te Rauparaha returned to his [[Kapiti Island]] stronghold. In November 1830, Te Rauparaha persuaded Captain John Stewart of the brig ''Elizabeth'' to carry him and his warriors in secret to [[Akaroa]], whereby in subterfuge they captured the leading Kāi Tahu chief, [[Tama-i-hara-nui]], and his wife and daughter. After destroying Tama-i-hara-nui's village, they took their captives to Kapiti and killed them. John Stewart, though arrested and sent to trial in Sydney as an accomplice to murder, nevertheless escaped conviction.<ref name="teara-ngaitahu">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Tau |first=Te Maire |title=Ngāi Tahu |encyclopedia=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/ngai-tahu |date=8 February 2005}}
</ref>

In the summer of 1831–32 Te Rauparaha attacked the Kaiapoi [[Pā (Māori)|pā]] (fortified village). Kaiapoi was engaged in a three-month siege by Te Rauparaha, during which his men successfully [[Sapping|sapped]] the pā. They then attacked Kāi Tahu on [[Banks Peninsula]] and took the pā at [[Onawe]]. In 1832–33 Kāi Tahu retaliated under the leadership of [[Tūhawaiki]] and others, attacking Ngāti Toa at [[Lake Grassmere]]. Kāi Tahu prevailed, and killed many Ngāti Toa, although Te Rauparaha again escaped. Fighting continued for a year or so, with Kāi Tahu maintaining the upper hand. Ngāti Toa never again made a major incursion into Kāi Tahu territory.<ref name=teara-ngaitahu/>

In 1836, the [[Ngāti Tama]] chief [[Te Pūoho]] led a 100-person war party, armed with [[musket]]s, down the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]] and over the [[Haast Pass]]. They fell on the Ngāi Tahu encampment between Lake Wānaka and [[Lake Hāwea]], capturing ten people and killing and eating two children.<ref name=Smith1910>{{cite book |title=History and Traditions of the Maoris of the West Coast North Island of New Zealand Prior to 1840 |author=S Percy Smith |date=1910 |publisher=Polynesian Society |location=New Plymouth |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SmiHist-t1-body1-d21-d7.html }}</ref> Te Puoho took his captives over the [[Crown Range]] to [[Lake Wakatipu]] and thence to Southland, where he was killed, and his war party destroyed by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader [[Tūhawaiki]].<ref name=AthollAnderson>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Atholl Anderson |title=Te Puoho-o-te-rangi |volume=1 |year=1990 |encyclopedia=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |url=http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/1t59/te-puoho-o-te-rangi |access-date=11 July 2017 }}</ref>

Kāi Tahu and Ngāti Toa established peace by 1839, with Te Rauparaha releasing the Kāi Tahu captives he held. Formal marriages between the leading families in the two tribes sealed the peace.

=== European contact ===
The first Europeans known to reach the South Island were the crew of Dutch explorer [[Abel Tasman]] who arrived in his ships ''Heemskerck'' and ''Zeehaen''. In December 1642, Tasman anchored at the northern end of the island in [[Golden Bay / Mohua]] which he named Moordenaar's Bay (Murderers Bay) before sailing northward to [[Tonga]] following a clash with Māori. Tasman sketched sections of the two main islands' west coasts. Tasman called them ''Staten Landt'', after the ''[[States General of the Netherlands]]'', and that name appeared on his first maps of the country. Dutch cartographers changed the name to ''Nova Zeelandia'' in Latin, from ''Nieuw Zeeland'', after the [[Seventeen Provinces|Dutch province]] of ''[[Zeeland]]''. It was subsequently Anglicised as ''New Zealand'' by British naval captain [[James Cook]] of [[HM Bark Endeavour|HM Bark ''Endeavour'']] who [[First voyage of James Cook|visited]] the islands more than 100 years after Tasman during (1769–70).

The first European settlement in the South Island was founded at [[Bluff, New Zealand|Bluff]] in 1823 by James Spencer, a veteran of the [[Battle of Waterloo]].<ref name="HIST">[http://www.bluff.co.nz/history.html Bluff history – an overview] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014013701/http://www.bluff.co.nz/history.html |date=14 October 2008 }} (from the 'bluff.co.nz' website. Retrieved 14 December 2008.)</ref>

In January 1827, the French explorer [[Jules Dumont d'Urville]] arrived in [[Tasman Bay]] on the corvette [[French ship Astrolabe (1811)|Astrolabe]]. A number of landmarks around Tasman Bay were named by d'Urville and his crew, including [[D'Urville Island, New Zealand|d'Urville Island]], [[Te Aumiti / French Pass|French Pass]] and [[Torrent Bay]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theprow.org.nz/d-urville-s-tasman-bay-odyssey/#.UPmE0B2R-So |title=D'Urville's Tasman Bay Odyssey |work=theprow.org.nz }}</ref>

=== European settlement ===
Following the signing of the [[Treaty of Waitangi]] in February 1840, [[Lieutenant-Governor]] Captain [[William Hobson]] declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in May 1840 and the South Island, along with the rest of New Zealand, briefly became a part of the [[Colony of New South Wales]].<ref>A. H. McLintock (ed), ''An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'', 3 vols, Wellington, NZ:R.E. Owen, Government Printer, 1966, vol 3 p. 526.</ref> This declaration was in response to France's attempts to colonise the South Island at [[Akaroa]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history-nz.org/colonisation4.html |title=French colonists – New Zealand in History |author=Robbie Whitmore |work=history-nz.org }}</ref> and the [[New Zealand Company]] attempts to establish a separate colony in [[Wellington]], and so Hobson declared British sovereignty over all of New Zealand on 21 May 1840 (the North Island by treaty and the South by discovery).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=D5D84302-EB22-4A52-BE78-16AF39F71D91&chapter=30 |title=The Ngāi Tahu Report 1991 |access-date=23 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301191845/http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=D5D84302-EB22-4A52-BE78-16AF39F71D91&chapter=30 |archive-date=1 March 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Seven days after the declaration, the Treaty was signed at Akaroa on 28 May.<ref name="Journey">{{Cite book |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/files/documents/Journey.pdf |title=The Journey of the Treaty |publisher=State Services Commission |year=2005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414152742/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/files/documents/Journey.pdf |archive-date=14 April 2017 }}</ref>

On 17 June 1843, Māori and British settlers clashed at [[Wairau Valley|Wairau]] in what became known as the [[Wairau Affray]]. Also known as the Wairau Massacre in most older texts, it was the first serious clash of arms between the two parties after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and the only one to take place in the South Island. Four Māori died and three were wounded in the incident, while among the Europeans the toll was 22 dead and five wounded. Twelve of the Europeans were shot dead or clubbed to death after surrendering to Māori who were pursuing them.<ref name="King">{{cite book |author=Michael King |title=The Penguin History of New Zealand |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-14-301867-4 |publisher=Penguin Books }}</ref>

The Otago Settlement, sponsored by the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)|Free Church of Scotland]], took concrete form in Otago in March 1848 with the arrival of the first two immigrant ships from [[Greenock]] (on the [[Firth of Clyde]]) – the ''John Wickliffe'' and the ''Philip Laing''. Captain [[William Cargill (New Zealand politician)|William Cargill]], a veteran of the [[Peninsular War]], served as the colony's first [[leadership|leader]]: Otago citizens subsequently elected him to the office of Superintendent of the [[Otago Province|Province of Otago]].

While the [[North Island]] was convulsed by the [[New Zealand Wars]] of the 1860s and 1870s, the South Island, with its low Māori population, was generally peaceful. In 1861, gold was discovered at [[Gabriel's Gully]] in [[Central Otago]], sparking a [[Otago gold rush|gold rush]]. [[Dunedin]] became the wealthiest city in the country, and many in the South Island resented financing the North Island's wars.

In the 1860s, several thousand Chinese men, mostly from [[Guangdong]], migrated to New Zealand to work on the South Island goldfields. Although the first Chinese migrants had been invited by the [[Otago]] Provincial government, they quickly became the target of hostility from white settlers and laws were enacted specifically to discourage them from coming to New Zealand.<ref>[[Manying Ip]]. 'Chinese', Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 21 December 2006, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Chinese/en {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224105730/http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Chinese/en|date=24 February 2007 }}</ref>