The Aotearoa History Show

New Zealand has had some big ambitions in the Pacific and mixed relations with our neighbours.

Why isn’t New Zealand part of Australia? | The Aotearoa History Show | RNZ
 

We all know New Zealand was the first country in the world where women could vote. But do you know how we got there? The path to suffrage is littered …

New Zealanders like to think we have a “Number 8 Wire Mentality” - a rough and ready enthusiasm for fixing and building stuff with limited resources. 

From a standing start of little tank engines chugging along wooden rails, New Zealand built a vast rail network, made up of enough steel rail to wrap halfway around the moon.

Marine mammals were a source of food and clothing for Māori and Moriori, and valuable oil for Europeans. Hunting them brought cultures together, made …

These are the wars that cost more lives than any other in our history. Stretched over more than a decade & the entire country, these conflicts changed Māori warfare & much of what came next.

Moriori are the original people of Rēkohu (aka Chatham Island or Wharekauri) & they have a tragic and inspiring story. Unfortunately, that story's often been twisted into, well, utter rubbish.

In 1841 a few tiny islands of Pākehā settlement existed in an ocean of Māori land. Today, that picture has reversed & Māori own a fraction of Aotearoa. A big part of the reason? The Native Land Court.

The discovery of gold drew tens of thousands to New Zealand in search of fortune. It was a hard life, but diggers brought mateship, fashion & …

New Zealanders have battled Covid-19 for more than two years, but if you think it's the first time disease has knocked us around, well, this one's for you. Epidemics have long been part of our story. 

The 1950s saw an explosion of youth culture. “Bodgies and widgies' ' tearing round on motorbikes & hanging out in milk bars scandalised many Kiwi …

The first 500 years of Māori settlement in Aotearoa saw significant, dynamic changes to how people lived; changes that challenge the idea of Māori …

No-one knows for sure who first introduced rabbits to New Zealand, because no-one wanted to take the blame for what became one of New Zealand's biggest environmental and economic disasters. We start season two burrowing …

It’s the final episode of the Aotearoa History Show! Rogernomics, Ruthanasia and the referendum on MMP saw the total restructuring of our economy and voting system. Plus a snapshot of the changing demographics of …

The 60s, 70s and 80s were rowdy decades. Kiwis were getting out in the streets and raising their voices about the rights of Māori, women and LGBT people, nuclear energy, the environment. Plus the most controversial …

After the war came a new quest for security and identity. With it came new political debates and alliances. Maori and Pasifika moved to the cities. …

A second world war swept the globe, dragging New Zealand once more onto the battlefield, this time in the Pacific as well as Europe. In the likes of Crete, Greece and North Africa and on Pacific islands Kiwis served and …

With World War I and the flu epidemic past, the good times rolled through the 1920s. Then came the bust of the Great Depression, prompting widespread …

It’s the war that claimed more New Zealand lives than any other. It’s also the event that’s often claimed as the "foundational moment” where we “became a nation”. But is that really true? In this episode we take a dive …

Through the final quarter of the 19th Century Pakeha settler numbers swelled. The immigrants sought land and started to create a new, distinct …

After the wars, politicians had to figure out how to run the new country. Bold choices saw huge spending on infrastructure, the right of women to …

As British troops leave, settler militia enter the fray. Some Māori chose to fight alongside the Crown while others join new religious movements, which seem to promise a way out of the conflict. 

Hunger for land and the rise of Kingitanga prompted Governor George Grey to invade Waikato in 1863. Fighting spread over years and into the Bay of Plenty, devastating Maori. But it was not as one-sided as the British …

In Europe, factions debated the future of Aotearoa, while Māori had their own ideas how to handle the growing number of Pākehā here. In the end, Te …

Abel Tasman and James Cook’s first contacts with Māori were complex and sometimes violent. Europeans brought new technologies, food and ideas, such …

Around 850 years ago Polynesian explorers found an empty land and the story of people in Aotearoa began. A new culture emerged; tangata whenua had …

Before people there was the land. We start the story of New Zealand 100 million years ago as tectonic forces tear apart Gondwana and Zealandia/Te Riu-a-Maiu is formed. 

RNZ presents The Aotearoa History Show - this time as an audio only podcast!