1850 John Arrowsmith Map of New Zealand

This is a striking 1850 map of New Zealand by John Arrowsmith. It shows the colony in the early days of a surge of immigration from Britain and other British colonies that would drastically alter New Zealand society and environment.

A Closer Look

This map covers the islands composing the colony of New Zealand, indicating from the Three Kings (Manawatāwhi), just beyond the scope of this map to the north, down through Stewart Island (Rakiura) to the south. The coastline along with coastal mountains and rivers are covered with especially close attention to detail. On the other hand, the geography of some of the interior parts of the islands were not well understood, including Otago, at bottom, which would soon see a rapid influx of outsiders during a gold rush in the 1860s. An inset map of the world centered on the western Pacific is located at bottom-right.

This map was made during a period when New Zealand was undergoing dramatic changes. Having started out as an offshoot of New South Wales where trade and relations with the Māori were generally amicable, interests in both commerce and colonial settlement ramped up with the royal chartering of the New Zealand Company in 1840. Afterwards, thousands of settlers arrived, many of whom were young couples who built large families in the new colony, growing the White population, causing land disputes with the Māori, and completely transforming the landscape to accommodate European-style agriculture. Meanwhile, disease, warfare, and cultural assimilation reduced the Māori population with similar rapidity.

Soon after this map's publication, New Zealand gained a Parliament and local administration. Despite holding a royal charter, the company was often at odds with royal representatives, including governors of New South Wales and later local governors, who were primarily interested in maintaining peace with the Māori and reining in the lawlessness among settlers and European and American whalers who operated in the waters off the islands.

Publication History and Census

This map was made by John Arrowsmith in 1850. An earlier edition appeared in the 1844 edition of Arrowsmith's London Atlas of Universal Geography, though the engraving in the present example is considerably more elaborate and appears to be a separate issue rather than an atlas map (no subsequent edition of the London Atlas was published before 1858). We note 14 listings of this map in the OCLC and it is scarce to the market.