New Zealand History and Cultural Environment. Early history, Settlement, People and Tradition, Polynesians, Maori culture. Contemporary New Zealand has a majority of people of European origin, a significant minority of Maori, and smaller numbers of people from Pacific islands and Asia. In the early 21st century, Asians were the fastest-growing demographic group. New Zealand was one of the last sizable land areas suitable for habitation to be populated by human beings. The first settlers were Polynesians who traveled from somewhere in eastern Polynesia, possibly from what is now French Polynesia. They remained isolated in New Zealand until the arrival of European explorers, the first of whom was the Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1642. Demographers estimate that, by the time British naval captain James Cook visited the country in 1769, the Maori population was not much greater than 100,000. They had no name for themselves but eventually adopted the name Maori (meaning “normal”) to distinguish themselves from the Europeans, who, after Cook’s voyage, began to arrive with greater frequency