the Middle East, such as Syrians, people from Equatorial Africa have been very few in the past. Middle Eastern ethnic group – 20,406 African ethnic group – 13,464 Others In 2013, 67,752 people or 1.7% self-identified with one or more ethnicities other than European, Māori, Pacific, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African. The vast majority of these people, 65,973 people, identified only as 'New Zealander'. Race and ethnic relations After 1840, many issues to do with sovereignty and land ownership remained unresolved and, for a long time, invisible while Māori lived in rural communities. When Māori and Pākehā (Europeans) began living in closer proximity, the belief that the country had "the best race relations in the world" was tested. The first Race Relations Concilitator was appointed in 1971 to help combat racial discrimination among New Zealanders. Agitation regarding Treaty of Waitangi violations intensified in the 1970s. The Waitangi Tribunal was set up in 1975 to consider alleged breaches, and in 1984 was empowered to look back to 1840. In general, New Zealanders of European descent consider themselves to be mostly free of racial prejudice, perceiving the country to be a more inclusive society, a notion that has been challenged especially by members of ethnic minority groups. According to research published in 2018, which analysed New Zealand adults' reported experience of racism over a 10-year period, reported recent racist experiences were highest among Asian participants followed by Māori and Pacific peoples, with Europeans reporting the lowest experience of racism. Culture New Zealand culture is essentially a Western culture influenced by the unique environment and geographic isolation of the islands, and the cultural input of the Māori and the various waves of multiethnic migration which followed the British colonisation of New Zealand. British settlers brought a legal, political, and economic system that has flourished, along with the British system of agriculture that has transformed the landscape. The development of a New Zealand identity and national character, separate from the British colonial identity, is most often linked with the period surrounding the First World War, which gave rise to the concept of the Anzac spirit. However, cultural links between New Zealand and Great Britain are maintained by a common language, sustained immigration from the UK, and the fact that many young New Zealanders spend time in Britain on "overseas experience", known as "OE". New Zealanders also identify closely with Australians, as a