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1000
First Inhabitants
The first people to live in Christchurch were called 'Moa Hunters'. -
1500
Iwi migrate to the South Island/ Te Waipounamu
North Island Māori (Ngati Māmoe and later Ngāi Tahu) arrived in Canterbury between 1500 and 1700. The remaining moa hunters were killed or taken into the tribes. -
Cook sights the Canterbury Peninsula
On 16 February 1770 Captain James Cook in his ship the Endeavour first sighted the Canterbury peninsula. He thought it was an island, and named it Banks Island after the ship’s botanist, Joseph Banks. -
Kaiapoi established by Ngāi Tahu as a central trading kainga
Their largest settlement was a fortified pā at Kaiapoi. This was also a major trading centre for pounamu or greenstone. -
Tracks developed in Ōtautahi between Kaiapoi and Rāpaki
The main track between Kaiapoi and another settlement at Rāpaki followed a path between the swamps and the two rivers, Ōtākaro (Avon) and Ōpāwaho (Heathcote). -
Europeans land on Banks Peninsula
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Māori population declines
The reasons included fighting between different groups of Ngāi Tahu, raids by the Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha from 1830 to 1832, and the impact of European diseases, especially measles and influenza, from which hundreds of Māori died. -
Farming settlements established in Akaroa
Captain William Rhodes first visited in 1836. He came back in 1839 and landed a herd of 50 cattle near Akaroa. -
Te Tiriti o Waitangi signed
The Treaty had been signed by many North Island chiefs in the Bay of Islands earlier in the year on 6 February. During Bunbury’s visit, only two of the Ngāi Tahu chiefs signed it. -
Deans family establish farming at Riccarton Bush/ Pūtaringāmotu
The Manson and Gebbie families also came with them, to work on the farm. Together they built the first European house on the Canterbury Plains. -
Canterbury Settlement underway
In November 1847 John Robert Godley and Edward Gibbon Wakefield met to plan the Canterbury settlement. -
Ngāi Tahu chiefs signed ‘Kemp’s Deed’
Sixteen Ngāi Tahu chiefs signed ‘Kemp’s Deed’, selling the larger part of their land for £2,000, but keeping some land for settlements and reserves, and those places where they gathered food (mahinga kai). -
Immigrants from England arrive on the ship Charlotte Jane
The first of the ships, the Charlotte Jane, arrived in Lyttelton on the morning of December 16, 1850, and was met by Godley and Sir George and Lady Grey. The first ashore of the travellers, known as the Pilgrims, was James Edward Fitzgerald, who leapfrogged over Dr Alfred Barker, sitting in the prow of the rowing boat.