Ka Ngaro Te Reo: Māori language under siege in the nineteenth century
In 1800, te reo Māori was the only language spoken in New Zealand. By 1899, it was on the verge of disappearing altogether. In 'Ka Ngaro Te Reo', Paul Moon traces the spiralling decline of the language during an era of prolonged colonisation that saw political, economic, cultural and linguistic power shifting steadily into the hands of the European core. In this revelatory and hard-hitting account, Moon draws on a vast range of published and archival material, as well as oral histories and contemporary Māori accounts, to chart the tortuous journey of a language under siege in a relentless European campaign to ‘save and civilize the remnant of the Maori Race’. He also chronicles the growing commitment among many Māori towards the end of the nineteenth century to ensure that the language would survive.