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Last reviewed: 16 August 2026

Historical Māori maps

Māori spatial knowledge did not begin when somebody drew it on European paper.

Whakapapa, ara, wai, mahinga kai, seasonal movement, landmarks, kōrero tuku iho and relationships among places all carried geographic knowledge. Surviving drawn maps are one expression of that knowledge, often produced in particular encounters with surveyors, officials, missionaries, researchers or other outsiders.

That makes historical Māori maps exceptionally valuable, but they need careful provenance.

Avoid the wrong starting story​

It is misleading to begin with the idea that Māori had no maps and then learned cartography from Europeans.

The more useful distinction is between:

  • existing Māori ways of knowing and communicating spatial relationships
  • the paper cartographic conventions introduced through European contact
  • Māori use of those conventions for particular purposes
  • colonial maps that incorporated Māori knowledge while serving Crown, survey or settlement systems

A surviving sketch map may translate a much richer body of spatial knowledge into a form another person could understand.

Early Māori-drawn maps​

Te Ara Tukitahua is one important surviving example. The map was drawn in 1791 by Tukitahua, a Māori visitor to Norfolk Island, to explain the location of Aotearoa and other places to Philip King.

Its value is not that it resembles a modern topographic map. It shows a different emphasis: places known or important to the mapmaker can receive greater prominence than a modern projection or scale convention would allow.

Treat early maps as purposeful communications rather than failed versions of modern cartography.

Ngāi Tahu and early South Island mapping​

The National Library's cartographic collections include nineteenth-century maps drawing on Māori geographic knowledge, including an 1841–42 sketch of Te Waipounamu associated with information from Ngāi Tahu.

When using maps of this kind, distinguish carefully among:

  • the people who supplied the geographic knowledge
  • the person who drew or copied the surviving sheet
  • later annotations or copies
  • the institution that now holds the item

The physical map's authorship and the knowledge behind it may not be the same thing.

Tangata whenua place-name maps​

Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa has published tangata whenua place-name maps that bring together Māori and Moriori names recorded through earlier mapping and research.

The first national edition was published in 1995, with a new edition released in 2023 as part of the Board's centenary work.

These maps are valuable discovery tools, but they are not a complete national inventory of Māori place names. Local iwi, hapū and whānau knowledge remains essential.

See Who gets to name a place?.

Colonial maps can contain Māori knowledge and colonial purpose at the same time​

Survey plans, land sale maps, Crown purchase deeds and topographic maps may preserve:

  • Māori place names
  • kāinga
  • pā
  • tracks
  • cultivations
  • waterways
  • resource locations
  • boundaries described during particular transactions

They may also have been created to support alienation, survey, title, administration or settlement.

Do not treat the presence of Māori information as evidence that the map represents a Māori worldview.

Ask what the map was made to do.

Provenance questions for every historical map​

Record:

  • repository and item reference
  • map title as catalogued
  • date or estimated date
  • mapmaker, surveyor or compiler if known
  • people who supplied information if known
  • purpose of the map
  • whether the item is an original, copy, tracing or later reproduction
  • scale if meaningful
  • projection if present
  • known limitations
  • any later annotations

If the map was copied from another source, follow the chain as far back as practical.

Georeferencing is interpretation​

Historic maps often lack modern coordinates and may contain distortions.

When you georeference one, you are creating a new spatial interpretation.

Keep:

  • the untouched source scan
  • the georeferenced derivative
  • control points
  • transformation method
  • residual error where useful
  • notes explaining uncertain areas

Do not overwrite the source image with the georeferenced version.

Choose control points carefully​

Good candidates include features likely to have remained spatially stable:

  • river confluences where channels are known to be stable
  • headlands
  • trig points on later maps
  • historic road intersections
  • surveyed parcel corners where the relationship is clear

Be cautious with:

  • riverbanks
  • coastlines
  • wetlands
  • roads that have been realigned
  • buildings
  • features whose names moved between maps

A mathematically neat fit can still be historically wrong.

Keep the source wording​

Historical maps often contain:

  • spellings without macrons
  • phonetic spellings
  • transcription mistakes
  • abbreviated names
  • anglicised forms
  • several names for one feature

Keep the original map wording in a source field even when you also add a normalised or current display name.

For example:

source_name
current_or_reviewed_name
name_status
source_ref
review_note

That preserves the evidence while allowing a modern map to be readable.

Use maps comparatively​

A historical map becomes more useful when compared with other evidence.

Possible combinations include:

  • several maps from different dates
  • Māori Land Court records
  • survey plans
  • historical aerial imagery
  • current terrain
  • local kōrero
  • archaeological records
  • newspaper descriptions

Agreement among sources can strengthen an interpretation. Disagreement can be equally important.

Do not hide the disagreement merely because the GIS wants one geometry.

Sensitive historical information​

Old does not automatically mean safe to publish.

A historical map may reveal:

  • urupā
  • wāhi tapu
  • pā
  • resource locations
  • former kāinga
  • access routes
  • locations not widely known today

Apply current tikanga and authority decisions to current publication. The fact that a nineteenth-century map is publicly accessible does not remove the need to think about what your new GIS product enables people to find, combine or infer.

A practical workflow​

  1. Define the historical question.
  2. Locate the best available scan and catalogue record.
  3. Record provenance before editing.
  4. Keep the source image unchanged.
  5. Georeference a working copy only if spatial comparison is useful.
  6. Digitise only the features required for the kaupapa.
  7. Keep source wording and reviewed wording separately.
  8. Compare with other evidence.
  9. Record uncertainty and competing interpretations.
  10. Create a public derivative only after reviewing sensitive content.

Sources​

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