Complex sentence: Up till the 1960s Europeans referred to them as the Māori wars, and historian James Belich was the first to refer to them as the New Zealand wars "in 1987 in his book" The New Zealand wars and the Victorian interpretation of racial conflict.
Split into simpler sentences: Up till the 1960s Europeans referred to them as the Māori wars. Historian James Belich was the first to refer to them as the New Zealand wars in 1987 in his book The New Zealand wars and the Victorian interpretation of racial conflict.