New Zealand was one of the last, and probably the last, landmass on earth to be populated by people.
Although there is early evidence of Polynesian landings at parts of the coast, proof of settlements before the.thirteenth century AD is scant.
The major starting place of these early landings was from the islands of East Polynesia.
Carbon dating of sites investigated by archaeologists point to the earliest settlement of Polynesians as being at Tairua on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula.
This area has been dated to the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. The next landings were in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Eventually subsequent arrivals saw Maori spread over the North Island and rather more thinly on the South Island.
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2012 - ON BECOMING A GRAND LODGE - The Grand Lodge of New Zealand - I J Nathan.
