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Apart from convicts escaping from Australia and shipwrecked or deserting sailors seeking asylum with Māori tribes, the first Europeans in New Zealand were in search of profits—from sealskins, timber, New Zealand flax (genus Phormium), and whaling. Australian firms set up tiny settlements of land-based bay whalers, and Kororareka (now called Russell), in the northeastern North Island, became a stopping place for American, British, and French deep-sea whalers. Traders supplying whalers drew Māori into their economic activity, buying provisions and supplying trade goods, implements, muskets, and rum. Initially the Māori welcomed the newcomers; while the tribes were secure, the European was ...(100 of 19117 words)