History "New Zealand is a country extremely remote from other lands. It was settled by two sea-faring peoples, Polynesian and British, after crossing immense oceans in small vessels. It was the scene of prolonged warfare in the nineteenth century and much earlier. Last century it was hailed as 'the social laboratory of the world'. By 1893 it was the most democratic state in the world, or that had ever existed. In the late 1930's with the introduction of 'social security', it was one of the first examples of the welfare state. Its history has been far from commonplace." ~Oxford History of New Zealand~ New Zealand is in itself unique for the fact that it was the last habitable land mass of any size to remain unpeopled, and had been for fifty million years, occupied only by birds and coastal mammals. More than a thousand years ago a well provisioned catamaran crewed by Polynesians made it's landfall on the north eastern coastline of the North Island of New Zealand. They brought with them the Kumara (sweet potato) and a number of other plants, along with at least one dog and the Polynesian rat - the Kiore. The land was named Aotea-roa (long daylight) due to the lower latitudes producing longer summer days. However, the early Maori (the indigenous people) were not the only settlers. Dream spirits had arrived on the heels of the settlers, created from the wonder of the new land. Polynesian mythology quickly forced them into the roles of gods and heros or the totems of local fauna. The native fae were late in comming then, for it was only the strength of the legend of Maui - a great mythological hero - that indeed brought a new race of fae into existance. Then, in 1642, the Dutch explorer Able Janszoon Tasman anchored off Wharewharangi Beach in what is now known as Golden bay. The Maori sounded what was presumably a conch shell instrument and one of Tasman's crew responded with a trumpet, immitating the call. This was possibly interpretted as a challenge, for the next day led to the death of four Europeans. Tasman left without landing. Captain James Cook a British explorer later 'rediscovered' New Zealand (the name given to it by Tasman) and landed in 1769. Later expiditions brought with him artists and scientists, and of course with the artists came the western fae.