Europeans in Oceania
“...when our old men saw the ship they said it was an ‘atua’, a god, and the people on board were ‘tupua’, strange beings or 'goblins'.”
Horeta Te Taniwha,
(remembering sighting the ‘Endeavour’,
Captain Cook's ship, New Zealand/ Aotearoa, 1769.)
The first Europeans to reach the islands of Oceania were Portuguese and
Spanish explorers in the 16th century. Later, from about 1800, came traders,
whalers, missionaries and settlers, artists, writers, beachcombers and
tourists of many nationalities.
Pacific Islanders often treated early European voyagers as prestigious
visitors, and each group of people presented the other with valuable gifts.
But did these gifts and exchanges mean the same things to Europeans as
they did to the Islanders?
Follow the link below to find out more about how these gifts were collected.
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