Imagine a beautiful and peaceful land where hundreds of native species thrive amid vast tracts of native forest …
The peace was shattered when humans arrived.
Hundreds of colonists begin hunting and killing the birds and burning the forest. It takes them less than a century to kill off at least 18 different species of large animals. They practise slash and burn agriculture, replacing the native forest with barren grassland and intensively farmed fields for their non-indigenous crops.
And if you think their environmental impact is high, wait till you hear about their human rights record. They imported men, women and children from other regions to be domestic slaves for them.
They once decimated an entire tribe, after the tribespeople attempted to make peace and share their land resources with the colonists.
“Parties of warriors armed with muskets, clubs and tomahawks walked through tribal territories and settlements without warning, permission or greeting. If the districts were wanted by the invaders, they curtly informed the inhabitants that their land had been taken and the tribespeople living there were now vassals.”
A survivor recalls:
“[They] commenced to kill us like sheep…. [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed - men, women and children indiscriminately.”
One of the conquerors:
“We took possession… in accordance with our customs and we caught all the people. Not one escaped…..”
28 years later, Only 101 tribespeople out of a population of more than 2,000 were left alive.
Who were these rampaging colonists? Was it …
- the Spanish invading South America?
- the English colonists upon arrival in Australia?
No. It was the Maori tribes who colonised New Zealand from the South Pacific around 1380 AD.
I was amused to read that the Maori party environmental policy is:
Exercising the responsibility … that all people have to the environment.
Yes, Maori tribes were very responsible when they hunted down 15 Moa species to the last bird and drove the Haasts eagle to extinction!
While I cannot defend slavery, cannibalism and genocide, when it comes to their effect on the environment, I believe Maori were doing what all humans have done, and will continue to do - whatever they need to do to survive. There is nothing wrong with that, and my point is not to attack Maori culture, but to draw attention to the effect of technology and progress on environmentalism.
It annoys me when environmentalists urge us to “return to simpler times”. Simpler times meant burning forests down and killing everything you could lay your hands on just so you didn’t starve. I’ll keep my power stations, fertiliser-driven agriculture and electric heaters, thanks.
“There is nothing wrong with that, and my point is not to attack Maori culture, but to draw attention to the effect of technology and progress on environmentalism.”
And perhaps to the benevolent effect of property rights?
Left by Peter Cresswell on June 6th, 2008