The population of New Zealand has a majority of New Zealanders of European origin (74%), a part of Polynesians (7.4%), Asians (11.8%) and an important Maori community (14.9%). The Maori, are mainly concentrated in the North Island, especially in the statistical area of Central Auckland. At the time of Cook it is estimated that the Maori, of Polynesian origin and arrived in New Zealand from the northernmost islands (perhaps the Cook or the Society Islands) in various waves between the century. X and XIV, amounted to 250,000 units. Divided into numerous tribes on an aristocratic basis, often at war with each other, the Maori soon opposed a common front to the white invasion; nevertheless the very hard and vain struggles waged against the British decimated them as well as, after laying down their arms, alcoholism and the diseases introduced by immigrants. Reduced at the end of the century. XIX to 40,000 units (there was even talk at that time of a probable extinction of the breed), the Maori have instead recorded a significant increase in recent decades, thanks to a growth coefficient double that of New Zealanders of European origin, represented almost exclusively by the English, Scots and Irish (as well as small communities of Germans and Scandinavians). Moreover, the population of the archipelago is fundamentally due to these. In 1840, when Britain proclaimed its sovereignty over New Zealand, a country located in Oceania according to indexdotcom.com, the whites were ca. a thousand, but already in 1868 there were 171,000 and over 500,000 in 1880. This was the result of an intense immigration originating from the “gold rush”, discovered in 1852 (but the exploitation only began in 1861 in Otago).
The extraction of gold, which in a short time was reduced to an activity of modest importance, was followed by the much more consistent and lasting spread of agriculture and livestock. In defense of the ownership of agricultural land and pastures, strong restrictions were placed on immigration and the balance of migrations, in the early years of the century. XXI substantially balanced, continues to be strictly monitored by the competent authorities. The demographic growth, which brought the population to over 1 million residents in 1911, at ca. two million in 1951 and the current over four million, was from the end of the nineteenth century essentially due to the natural increase that, even at the beginning of the century. XXI, was still high due to low mortality and a high birth rate, especially among the Maori. The latter phenomenon is also connected to the awareness of one’s own culture and to the ever broader claims of the rights of indigenous communities. More than 3/4 of the residents live on the North Island, whose environments are much more favorable to agricultural activities; the island has a density of 28 residents / km² against the 7 residents / km² of the South Island. The average population density is 15.88 residents / km² but the population thickens in the coastal areas, while large areas of inland are almost desert. Although more than four-fifths of the population is classified as urban, there are no major cities, except for Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton (North Island) and Christchurch and Dunedin (South Island), which have long since assumed regional capital functions. dominating the organization of a rather vast territory. The urban network is made up of medium and small cities. Auckland is the most populous urban agglomeration in New Zealand, the only New Zealand center to exceed one million residents; the development of industries contributed greatly to this, attracting migratory flows, including those of the Maori. Its port carries out important commercial functions and has a traffic consisting mainly of finished products. Furthermore, Auckland is configured as a modern and interesting city, a destination for seaside tourism; it is defined City of Sails, or city of sails, for the large number of boats and yachts that revolve around its marina. Wellington, the southernmost capital in the world, was the first city founded by the British and due to its position on the Cook Strait, in the center of the country, it has assumed the function of capital: it is an artistic and cultural center and a very active port, which heads the road and rail communications network of the North Island, connected, by ferries across the Cook Strait, also to the South Island. The most important of the latter is Christchurch, the outlet of the Canterbury plain. through Lyttelton’s outer harbor; its economy is centered on the processing of meat and on other food productions, but it also has other manufacturing activities, among which those of rubber processing emerge. Dunedin instead it is the largest commercial center in the Otago region, on the railway that runs along the east coast of the island. Among the major cities: Manukau, SE of Auckland, and Hamilton on the North Island, Invercargill and Nelson on the South Island. Around the metropolitan area of Auckland revolve the cities of North Shore and Waitakere, which owes its name to an old Maori chief.