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New Zealand

island country in the southwest Pacific Ocean

36 dated entries naming New Zealand, drawn from 32 separate years between 180 CE and 2023 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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2nd century

  • 180Lake Taupō in New Zealand erupts, forming ash clouds as far as China and Europe.source
  • 181The volcano associated with Lake Taupō in New Zealand erupts, one of the largest on Earth in the last 5,000 years. The effects of this eruption are seen as far away as Rome and China.source

13th century

  • 1280The ancestors of the Māori people from eastern Polynesia become the first human settlers of New Zealand.source

14th century

  • 1314Approximate date – Volcanic eruption of Mount Tarawera in New Zealand; there are few settlers here at this time.source
  • 1320Approximate date – Earliest likely date for first permanent settlement of New Zealand by Māori people.source
  • 1350Approximate date – Latest likely date for first permanent settlement of New Zealand by Māori people.source

15th century

  • 1491February 13 – A tsunami occurs off of the coast of New Zealand, later believed to be caused by a meteor impact that created what is referred to as the "Mahuika crater" on the New Zealand continental shelf.source
  • 1500A group of Māori migrate east from the New Zealand mainland to the Chatham Islands, developing a distinct pacificist culture known as the Moriori (approx. date).source

17th century

  • 1642December 13 – Abel Tasman and his crew become the first recorded Europeans to sight New Zealand, arriving at its South Island. In a battle between the Europeans and the Island's Maori inhabitants, four crew members are killed.source

18th century

  • 1717Most recent rupture of New Zealand's Alpine Fault, with an earthquake estimated to have had a magnitude between 7.8 and 8.1.source
  • 1770March 26 – First voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain James Cook and his crew aboard complete the circumnavigation of New Zealand.source
  • 1772July 13 – The second voyage of James Cook departs from Plymouth on Captain Cook's new ship, HMS Resolution and the companion ship HMS Adventure in an attempt to prove the existence of an uncharted continent even further south than New Zealand.source

19th century

  • 1807Battle of Hingakaka between two factions of Māori people, the largest battle ever fought in New Zealand, and the last fought there without firearms. In 1807 or 1808 is fought the Battle of Moremonui, first of the Musket Wars.source
  • 1839May 22 – Former British statesman Lord Durham, as President of the New Zealand Company, formally asks the British government for permission to colonize New Zealand, and to establish a colonial government under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.source
  • 1840January 22 – British colonists reach New Zealand, officially founding the settlement of Wellington.source
  • 1840May 21 – New Zealand is declared a British colony.source
  • 1842The New Zealand seat of government moves from Russell to Auckland.source
  • 1843June 17 – In New Zealand, a posse of British settlers sent to arrest Māori chief Te Rauparaha clash with members of his Ngāti Toa tribe, resulting in 26 deaths.source
  • 1847April 16 – New Zealand Wars: A minor Māori chief is accidentally shot by a junior British Army officer in Whanganui on New Zealand's North Island, triggering the Wanganui Campaign (which continues until July 23).source
  • 1848March 23 – The settlement of Dunedin, New Zealand is founded, with the arrival of settlers from Scotland on board the John Wickliffe.source
  • 1853August 12 – New Zealand acquires self-government.source
  • 1855January 23 – The 8.2–8.3 Wairarapa earthquake claims between five and nine lives near the Cook Strait area of New Zealand.source
  • 1862February 2 – The first railway is opened in New Zealand, by the Dun Mountain Copper Mining Company.source
  • 1867Gorse is naturalised in New Zealand, where it soon becomes the worst invasive weed.source
  • 1881April 30 – hits a reef and sinks off the coast of New Zealand's South Island with only 20 survivors of the 151 on board.source
  • 1886June 10 – The Mount Tarawera volcano erupts in New Zealand, resulting in the deaths of over 150 people and the destruction of the famous Pink and White Terraces.source

20th century

  • 1905February 5 – The French ship Anjou is wrecked off of the coast of the uninhabited Auckland Island, located 290 mi from the nearest inhabited land in New Zealand. The castaways live on the isle for more than three months until being rescued on May 7.source
  • 1905July 14 – In New Zealand, the first known suicide attack by a civilian (as opposed to sacrifices made in military combat) takes place in Murchison.source
  • 1952February 6 – Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon. The princess, who is on a visit to Kenya when she hears of the death of her father, King George VI, aged 56, takes the regnal name Elizabeth II.source
  • 1953May 29 – 1953 British Mount Everest expedition: Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay from Nepal become the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest.source

21st century

  • 2007September 25 – Mount Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park in New Zealand, erupts.source
  • 2010September 4 – A 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocks Christchurch, New Zealand causing large amounts of damage but no direct fatalities. It is the first in a series of earthquakes between 2010 and 2012 that resulted in the deaths of 187 people and over $40 billion worth of damage. Seismologists noted that the earthquake sequence was highly unusual, and likely to never happen again anywhere else in the world.source
  • 2019December 9 – A volcano erupts on White Island in New Zealand, killing 22 people and injuring 25 others.source
  • 2019March 15 – 51 people are killed and 50 others injured in terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the deadliest mass shooting and terrorist attack in New Zealand's history.source
  • 2023July 20–August 20 – The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is held in Australia and New Zealand. In the final, Spain wins 1–0 against England.source
  • 2023July 9 – New Zealand signs a free trade agreement with the European Union, increasing bilateral trade.source

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