Chatham Islands

Tomorrow I am going offshore to the Chatham Islands for a holiday. I am very excited - the Chathams are a remote location with a very interesting history and flora and fauna. The islands are only home to about 600 people, of European, Maori and Moriori descent.

They are rather wild and windswept and I certainly won't be expecting shopping malls and theatres! There is telephone access but I am not sure if I will be able to access a computer while there. So I will be offline for about 10 days or so.

Some information below:

The archipelago of the Chatham Islands (Rekohu in the Moriori language and Wharekauri in the Māori language), is a territory of New Zealand and consists of about 10 islands within a 40-km radius. The remote islands, located over 800 kilometers east of southern New Zealand, have officially belonged to the country since 1842.

The first human habitation of the Chathams involved migrating Polynesian tribes who settled the islands about 1500 AD, and in their isolation became the Moriori people. The exact origins of these people remains a matter of some dispute. The Moriori population of the islands numbered about 2000.

On November 19, 1835, a British ship carrying 500 Māori armed with guns, clubs and axes arrived, followed by another ship on December 5, 1835 with a further 400 Māori. They proceeded to massacre the Moriori and enslave the survivors.

After the invasion, Moriori were forbidden to marry Moriori, nor to have children with each other. All became slaves of the Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga invaders. Many died from despair. Many Moriori women had children to their Maori masters. A small amount of Moriori women eventually married either Maori or European men. Some were taken from the Chathams and never returned. Today, in spite of the difficulties and genocide that Moriori faced, Moriori are enjoying a renaissance, both on Rekohu and in the mainland of New Zealand.

The current population of 609 individuals have European (66%), Māori (57%) and Moriori origins.