page_title: Moriori
hierarchical_section_title: Moriori
context_page_description: The Moriori are the indigenous Polynesian people of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. Moriori originated from Māori settlers from the New Zealand mainland around AD 1500. This was near the time of the shift from the Archaic to Classic Māori culture on the main islands of New Zealand. Oral tradition records multiple waves of migration to the Chatham Islands. Over several centuries these settlers' culture diverged from mainland Māori, developing a distinctive dialect, mythology, artistic expression and way of life.
  Early Moriori formed tribal groups based on eastern Polynesian social customs and organisation; later, a prominent pacifist culture emerged. This culture made it easier for Taranaki Māori invaders to nearly exterminate them in the 1830s during the Musket Wars. Currently there are around 700 people who identify as Moriori, most of whom no longer live on the Chatham Islands.
  During the late 19th century some prominent anthropologists proposed that Moriori were pre-Māori settlers of mainland New Zealand, and possibly Melanesian in origin. This hypothesis was taught in New Zealand’s schools for most of the 20th century, long after it had fallen from favour among academics.
context_section_description: The Moriori are the indigenous Polynesian people of the Chatham Islands (Rēkohu in Moriori; Wharekauri in Māori), New Zealand. Moriori originated from Māori settlers from the New Zealand mainland around AD 1500. This was near the time of the shift from the Archaic to Classic Māori culture on the main islands of New Zealand. Oral tradition records multiple waves of migration to the Chatham Islands. Over several centuries these settlers' culture diverged from mainland Māori, developing a distinctive dialect, mythology, artistic expression and way of life.
  Early Moriori formed tribal groups based on eastern Polynesian social customs and organisation; later, a prominent pacifist culture emerged (see Nunuku-whenua). This culture made it easier for Taranaki Māori invaders to nearly exterminate them in the 1830s during the Musket Wars. Currently there are around 700 people who identify as Moriori, most of whom no longer live on the Chatham Islands.
  During the late 19th century some prominent anthropologists proposed that Moriori were pre-Māori settlers of mainland New Zealand, and possibly Melanesian in origin. This hypothesis was taught in New Zealand’s schools for most of the 20th century, long after it had fallen from favour among academics.
caption: Moriori family c. 1910
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