Total populationNorth Island354 (2013 census)South Island348 (2013 census)LanguagesMoriori, English, Māori

What happened to the Māori?

With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the two cultures coexisted for a generation. … After the Treaty was declared a legal nullity in 1877, Māori were forced to assimilate into many aspects of Western society and culture.

Why did the Māori population decline?

It is likely that the Māori population had continued to grow after 1769 – but that growth rates declined in the early 19th century because Māori were exposed to new diseases to which they had no immunity (like measles, influenza and tuberculosis), introduced by Pākehā settlers.