A Traveller’s History Of New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands, by John H. Chambers

There are a lot of qualities that make this book head and shoulders above other books that I have seen of its subject matter, and some aspects of that are worth going into some detail about. One of the main problems that historians struggle with when writing about New Zealand is the lack of context provided, and so this book provides that context in part by expanding the subject material that the book is about beyond merely looking at the history of New Zealand alone but looking at it as part of the larger context of South Pacific Island states. This allows the author to compare New Zealand with other islands that share a similar Polynesian (and larger Austronesian) heritage as well as experience with colonial powers. In this situation we see New Zealand as part of a larger pattern of Polynesian degradation of the environment (though not on the scale of say, Rapa Nui), as well as having a moderate form of rulership that did not achieve the same heights as say, Hawaiian or Tongan kingship, which led to its vulnerability to European colonization (like, say, New Caledonia or Hawaii) and it being in turn a Western imperial nation in areas like Western Samoa, the Cook Islands, and Niue.

Allied with the author’s ability to make a problem more manageable by making it larger is a balanced approach that manages to avoid the leftist teleological approaches that praise New Zealand’s progressive approach in recent decades. This book, as a slightly older book than its competitors, manages to see enough of New Zealand’s behavior to take it critically and to find both praise and criticism in the behavior of post-colonial nations and their often corrupt political systems, and New Zealand, if not exempt from this problem, finds itself being compared not only to other European imperial nations like the United States and Australia (which themselves were once colonial outposts) as well as with France and the United Kingdom, as well as with independent states of Oceania which have often foundered because of the expensive indulging of historical grievances in the absence of good responsible government as well as the cultivation of corrupt dealings. The result is an account that is far less triumphalist about post-colonial politics and far more sober-minded about the corruption that results when peoples seek spoils rather than competence and responsibility.

In terms of its contents, this book is about 400 pages long and is divided into thirteen chapters and numerous other supplementary materials. The book begins with acknowledgments and a preface before beginning with a discussion of the importance of great expanses of water to the world of the Polynesians in its introduction. After this the author gives a brief description of the physical environment of Oceania (1) as well as a discussion of early South Pacific cultures (2). After this the author discusses the special cases of the Easter Islanders of Rapa Nui, the Fijians, and the Maori of New Zealand (3). This is followed by a discussion of contact and commerce (4) as well as Christianity and colonization (5) in the South Pacific Islands to 1900. The author then turns his attention to a more focused discussion of New Zealand’s history, starting with a discussion of the Maori Musket Wars and Christianity up to 1840 (6), settlements and wars up to 1872 (7), and the establishment of a South Pacific Britannia into the early 1900s (8). This is followed by a discussion of nation building through World War I in New Zealand (9), New Zealand’s history through the end of World War II (10), New Zealand’s postwar prosperity after that (11), and then the radical turn in New Zealand’s politics after 1980 (12). This is followed by a discussion of the corrupt “Pacific Way” for South Pacific island states after 1900 (13). The book then includes five appendices that deal with firewalking in Fiji (1), the treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand (2), the living tradition of Haka in New Zealand (3), the moko, or Maori facial tattoos (4), and a discussion of the largest islands in the South Pacific (5). The book ends with a list of monarchs, governors, presidents, and prime ministers in the region, a chronology of major events, suggestions for further reading, a historical gazetteer, and an index.