New Zealand may be renamed but Maori disagree

New Zealand was named after the Dutch province of Zeeland in the southwest of the Netherlands in 1643. But the island kingdom was already inhabited by the indigenous people, Maori, who called the land Aotearoa – the land of the long white cloud.

Some time ago, she was working today Maori campaign for New Zealand to return to Aotearoa, but also to all cities and towns to restore their Maori names. Maori party leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, have submitted a petition that wants the change to be implemented in 2026.

“We are a Polynesian country, we are Aotearoa,” they both wrote. I miss petition 2021.

But on Friday, the name proposal faced cyclicality when the largest Maori group called Ngai Tahoe to think and not rush, he writes. NZ Herald.

The group noted among other things Chief Edward Ellison noted that Aotearoa refers only to the North Island and not the South Island. Therefore, the official transition to the Maori name will not work, says Ellison, who viewed the initiative favorably:

– I’m very proud to see the name on our passports and other identity certificates, but it’s a big step to slowly adopting a name we got used to over time, rather than making a real decision to change the name of the country, in Ellison.

The country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has previously said that the name change is not something that has been discussed at the government level, but she is increasingly hearing how Aotearoa is being used in parallel with New Zealand and that she considers this a positive thing, she wrote. Watchman.