<P> New Zealand was originally settled by Polynesians from Eastern Polynesia . Genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that humans emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands ; after a pause of 70 to 265 years , a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand . The most current reliable evidence strongly indicates that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE . Previous dating of some Kiore ( Polynesian rat ) bones at 50 -- 150 CE has now been shown to have been unreliable ; new samples of bone ( and now also of unequivocally rat - gnawed woody seed cases ) match the 1280 CE date of the earliest archaeological sites and the beginning of sustained , anthropogenic deforestation . </P>
<P> New Zealand was originally settled by Polynesians from Eastern Polynesia . Genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that humans emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands ; after a pause of 70 to 265 years , a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand . The most current reliable evidence strongly indicates that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE . Previous dating of some Kiore ( Polynesian rat ) bones at 50 -- 150 CE has now been shown to have been unreliable ; new samples of bone ( and now also of unequivocally rat - gnawed woody seed cases ) match the 1280 CE date of the earliest archaeological sites and the beginning of sustained , anthropogenic deforestation . </P>
when did the first settlers come to new zealand
when did the first settlers come to new zealand
around 1280 CE
around 1280 CE