First Contact with Māori at Poverty Bay

At Poverty Bay, in the north-east of the North Island near the future site of Gisborne, the first encounters between Māori and Europeans took place. Over the first two days after coming ashore, the encounters resulted in the deaths of four or five local people. Cook's journal entries reflect regret that he had failed his instructions to avoid hostilities with Indigenous peoples. The Māori at this first landing, unfamiliar with such ships, reportedly thought Endeavour was a floating island or a gigantic bird from the mythical homeland of Hawaiki.