New England Whalers and the Maori Economic Frontier 1815-1840

Abstract

The American whaling industry, in need of reliable ports for resupply in the South Pacific, came to New Zealand in the early 1800's. Coastal Maori tribes, eager to trade with European vessels, supplied whalers with food, wood, water, sex and labour. Whaler dependence on Maori supplies allowed Maori to dictate trade terms, and a commercial economy developed in New Zealand using the musket as currency. Maori commercial enterprise served to enhance tribal autonomy. The demands for annexation by British settlers in New Zealand developed as a response to increasing Maori economic and political autonomy. This essay examines the impact and interaction the New England whaler had on both the Maori economic frontier and the call for annexation. The research, based primarily on whaler logs and journals, provides an analysis of American whaling in New Zealand, and focuses on Maori motivations for engaging in trade. The essay argues that the motivation for Maori trade with whalers was the preservation of tribal autonomy. The success of Maori commercial enterprise created among Europeans a feeling that economic and political dependence on Maori was unacceptable. The call for annexation, from New Zealand's European population, was largely born from a fear that the Maori were becoming too powerful to subjugate.