Canterbury's Development

By Raadhika
  • 1450

    Moa become extinct.

    Hunters cleared large areas of totara forest and matai by fire, and by about 1450 all the moa had been hunted and killed off.
  • 1497

    Maori from the North Island arrive in Canterbury.

    Maori tribes from the North Island such as Ngati Māmoe and later Ngāi Tahu arrived in Canterbury and either killed or took the remaining moa hunters into their tribes between 1500-1700.