This is a timeline of the history of New Zealand that includes only events deemed to be of principal importance – for less important events click the year heading or refer to List of years in New Zealand.
Prehistory (to 1000 CE)edit
85 mya: Around this time New Zealand splits from the supercontinent Gondwana.[1]
5 mya: New Zealand's climate cools as Australia drifts north. Animals that have adapted to warm temperate and subtropical conditions become extinct.
18,000 BP: New Zealand's North and South islands are connected by a land bridge during the last ice age. Glaciers spread from the Southern Alps carving valleys and making fiords in the South Island. The land bridge is submerged around 9,700 BCE.[citation needed]
1400~1500: Development of the Classic Māori Material Culture including expansion of Māori settlement from coastal to inland areas, increase in horticulture and development of pā (hillforts)[citation needed]
~1400~1450: Most likely extinction of the moa.[6][7]
1576: Speculation exists[8][9] that around this time Spanish explorer Juan Fernández visited New Zealand[10] although this is not generally accepted by most reputable authorities.[11]
17th centuryedit
1601 onwards
Expansion and migration of Māori groups and formation of classic iwi. (many still existing today)
1642
13 December: DutchexplorerAbel Tasman sights the South Island. He called it Staten Landt but the Dutch East India Company cartographer Joan Blaeu subsequently changed it to Nieuw Zeeland.[12]
19 December: Four of Tasman's crew are killed at Wharewharangi (Murderers) Bay by a Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri war party. Tasman's ships are approached by 11 waka as he leaves and his ships fire on them, hitting a Māori standing in one of the waka.[14] Tasman's ships depart without landing. The Dutch chart the west of the North Island.
Ngāpuhi fight Ngāti Whātua, Te-Uri-o-Hau and Te Roroa iwi at the battle of Moremonui on the west coast of Northland, the first battle in which Maori used muskets.
Ngati Uru attack and burn the ship Boyd, killing all but four of its crew and passengers. Whalers wrongly blame Te Puna chief Te Pahi and in a revenge attack kill 60 of his followers.
22 December: British missionarySamuel Marsden, of the (Anglican) Church Missionary Society, arrives at Rangihoua at Oihi Bay in the Bay of Islands to establish the country's first mission station. Sheep, cattle, horses and poultry are introduced.
Christmas Day: Rev Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land, at Rangihoua.
17 August: the country's second mission station is established, at Kerikeri, when Rev Marsden, John Butler, Francis Hall and William Hall mark out the site which was previously visited by Marsden in 1815.
25 September: Rev Marsden plants 100 vines, the first grapes grown in New Zealand.
4 November: Chiefs Hongi Hika and Rewa sell 13,000 acres (5260 hectares) at Kerikeri to the Church Missionary Society for 48 felling axes.
19 November: The brig Lord Raglan carrying 500 Māori from Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga armed with guns, clubs and axes, arrives on the Chatham Islands. It is followed by another ship with 400 more Māori on 5 December. Those Moriori that are not killed are enslaved.[24]
Captain William Hobson sent by New South Wales Governor to report on New Zealand. He suggested a treaty with the Māori and imposition of British Law.
New Zealand Association formed in London, becoming the New Zealand Colonisation Society in 1838 and the New Zealand Company in 1839, under the inspiration of Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
Government launches the first of what would become 3,000,000 acres of land-confiscations from Māori in Waikato, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, and Hawke's Bay.
Mary C. Leavitt, World Missionary for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, toured New Zealand setting up local branches; appointed Anne Ward of Wellington as the first national president to continue recruiting and organizing departments to advocate for women's political and socio-economic rights.
12 August: Reefton becomes first town in the Southern Hemisphere to have a public supply of electricity after the commissioning of the Reefton Power Station.
Fears of a Japanese Invasion prompts precautions such as air raid drills. Membership of the Home Guard became compulsory for men aged between 35 and 50. The threat is eased after the Battle of the Coral Sea.
US Vice President Spiro Agnew Visits New Zealand to prop up the NZ Governments support for the Vietnam War and is met by an anti-war protest in Auckland which turns violent.
Natural gas network commissioned, supplying gas from Kapuni to Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Whanganui, Palmerston North and Wellington.
December: New Zealand ends its role in the Vietnam War when Troops are withdrawn under the new Labour Government and Compulsory Military Training is Abolished.
13 October: Māori land march reaches Parliament building in Wellington, Whina Cooper presents a Memorial of Rights to the Prime Minister Bill Rowling and Māori Affairs Minister Matiu Rata.
Constitutional crisis follows general election; outgoing Prime Minister Robert Muldoon refuses to implement advice of Prime Minister elect David Lange.
Government devalues New Zealand dollar by 20 percent.
Compulsory superannuation is rejected by a margin of more than nine to one in New Zealand's first postal referendum.
Jim Bolger resigns as prime minister after losing the support of the National Party caucus and is replaced by New Zealand's first woman prime minister, Jenny Shipley.
27 November: (28 November NZ Time.) XL Airways Germany A320 Flight 888T, an aeroplane owned by Air New Zealand crashes in the Mediterranean Sea off the south coast of France, killing all seven on board, 5 of whom are New Zealanders.[55]
December 2019: Whakaari / White Island eruption. 47 people were on the island at the time. Twenty-two people died, either in the explosion or from injuries sustained, including two whose bodies were never found and were later declared dead. A further 25 people suffered injuries, with the majority needing intensive care for severe burns.
17 October: Originally scheduled for 19 September and delayed due to a second COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020 general election is held.
6 November: Official election results give Labour 65 seats, enough for a majority government, the first time a single party wins enough seats to govern alone since the mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) system was introduced in 1996.
^Lowe, David J. (2008). "Polynesian settlement of New Zealand and the impacts of volcanism on early Maori society: an update" (PDF). University of Waikato. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
^Wilmshurst, Janet M.; Anderson, Atholl; Higham, Thomas F. G.; Worthy, Trevor H. (3 June 2008). "Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (22): 7676–7680. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105.7676W. doi:10.1073/pnas.0801507105. PMC2409139. PMID 18523023.
^Woodhouse, Graeme. "TerraNature – New Zealand Ecology – Extinct birds". Terranature.org. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
^Woodhouse, Graeme. "TerraNature – New Zealand ecology – Flightless birds, Moa, the fastest extinction of a megafauna and the world's tallest bird". Terranature.org. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
^"Famous tree sparks debate on discovery of New Zealand". 20 September 2001. Archived from the original on 7 November 2002.
^The Vallard Atlas, produced in early 17th century by the French and held in a Los Angeles library vault contains the coast of the North Island
^Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand; Vol 27, 1894. p. 617 "A statement exists that, as far back as 1576, Juan Fernandez., a Spanish pilot, sailed W.S.W. from Chili for the space of a month, and that then he came upon a fertile and pleasant land, inhabited by light-complexioned people, who wore woven cloth, and who were exceedingly hospitable. From the course steered and the time occupied on the voyage it has been concluded that this fertile land was New Zealand."
^"National accepts dismal result". Television New Zealand. 28 July 2002. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
^"New Zealand Demographics". queenstownproperty.com. 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
^Nzpa, Kevin Taylor and (26 June 2003). "Barnett celebrates 'historic moment' with prostitution bill". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
^Links, Helen Tunnah The Judges Appointed to the new Supreme Court Will be Those Recommended to the Government by a Special Panel (16 October 2003). "Panel to recommend Supreme Court judges". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
^Young, Audrey (15 June 2010). "Foreshore plan opens door to Maori claims". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
^"Civil Unions Bill passed". The New Zealand Herald. 9 December 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
^"Maori Party registered" (Press release). Electoral Commission. 9 July 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Māori Television Launch". NZ On Screen. Archived from the original on 21 May 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^Longshaw, Jen. "2005 Election Results". Kiwi Herald. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"New Zealand Coinage Specifications". Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^Television New Zealand; Newstalk ZB; One News (11 October 2006). "Govt announces $11.5 billion surplus". Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Subnational Population Estimates: At 30 June 2007". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 13 November 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Retrial ordered for David Bain". One News. 21 June 2007. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Freeview launch to usher in new broadcasting era" (Press release). FreeView. 10 April 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"KiwiSaver: what you need to know". The Sunday Star-Times. 30 May 2007. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"I was only doing my job, says VC hero". The New Zealand Herald. 2 July 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Controversial electoral law passed in heated debate". The New Zealand Herald. 18 December 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^McKenzie-Minifie, Martha; Gay, Edward (11 January 2008). "State funeral for Sir Edmund Hillary". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Key says NZ election win a 'vote for change'". The New Zealand Herald. 9 November 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Air New Zealand airbus in fatal crash". National Business Review. 28 November 2008. Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Helen Clark confirmed in top UN role". The New Zealand Herald. 27 March 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Dames and knights restored to NZ honours system". 3 News. 8 March 2009. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"David Bain not guilty". Stuff. 5 June 2009. Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Tests confirm at least three have swine flu in NZ". The New Zealand Herald. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
^"Census timeline 2000–2013". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 16 January 2016.[permanent dead link]
^Watkins, Tracy (17 October 2014). "'We nailed it': NZ wins UN Security Council seat". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
^"NZ weather: Evacuations as Auckland hit by major flooding, fire crews responding to over 400 emergency calls". Newshub. 27 January 2023. Archived from the original on 26 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
^"Auckland floods: Death toll now 3 after landslide brings down Remuera house". Stuff. 28 January 2023. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
^"Police confirm fourth person found dead after being swept away by floodwaters". RNZ. 29 January 2023. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
External linksedit
New Zealand at Timelines of History
Today in New Zealand History calendar at New Zealand History Online