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Jan 1, 1000
First Inhabitants
The first inhabitants in Christchurch were the Moa Hunters -
Jan 1, 1450
Moa extinction
The Hunters used fire to clear large areas of matai and totara forest, and by about 1450 all moa had been killed off -
Jan 1, 1500
Moa Hunters Killed of Captured
The North Island Maori arrived in Christchurch beetween 1500-1700. The remaining Moa hunters were either killed or taken into tribes -
Captain James Cook
Sailing in the Endeavour, James Cook first sighted Banks Peninsula on 16th February 1770. He believed it was an ISland at first so he named in Banks Island after the ships boatnist, Joseph Banks -
Ngai Tuahuriri
By 1800 Ngai Tuahuriri were in ownership of a large proportion of the east coast in the South Island. They had a major trading center for greenstone in Kaiapoi, the largest settlement ground. -
First people on Banks Peninsula
It wasnt until 1815 when the sailors from the sealing ship Governor Bligh first seet foot on Banks Peninsula -
Maori population decreasing
During the 1820's to the 1830's the Maori population fell. The main reasons were illness, fighting between groups and raids. -
Naming of the Harbour
In 1827 , William Wiseman, a flax trader, named the harbour (known as Lyttelton Harbour) Port Cooper, after one of the owners of te Sydney trading firm, Cooper & Levy