Rekohu High Sea

The seas around Rekohu, the Chatham Islands, lie east of New Zealand in a cool and often stormy part of the Pacific. Isolation and ocean conditions shaped the development of Moriori society on the islands. Marine mammals, fish, shellfish and birds supplied important foods, while island communities maintained social traditions suited to their environment. Their ancestors belonged to the wider Polynesian world, but life on Rekohu developed distinctive forms over many generations.

European contact began in the late eighteenth century, followed by increasing visits connected with sealing and other maritime activity. These encounters introduced unfamiliar goods and diseases and drew the islands into distant commercial networks. In 1835, arrivals from New Zealand invaded the islands and enslaved many Moriori, bringing catastrophic violence to their communities.