New Zealand: Maori party wants to rename island nation Aotearoa

New Zealand: Maori party wants to rename island nation Aotearoa

The name “Aotearoa” is already used in many companies and authorities. Even on New Zealand’s passports, the word used by the indigenous peoples: inside appears. A petition now wants to enforce it as the official country name.

The Maori party wants to officially rename the Pacific state New Zealand to “Aotearoa” with the help of a petition. The word used by the indigenous peoples, which translated means “land of the long, white cloud”, is already often used as a synonym for New Zealand. However, the term has a controversial history and is said to have originally only been used for the North Island and not for the whole country.

Maori party also wants to change city names in New Zealand

The party also wants to reintroduce the Maori names for all cities and place names by 2026, as its chairmen Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer stressed in a statement on Tuesday. It is long overdue for Te Reo Maori (the Maori language) to regain its rightful place as the country’s first and official language. We are a Polynesian country, we are Aotearoa, “said Waititi.

Ngarewa-Packer explained that the name changes and the “imposition of a colonial agenda in the education system” had resulted in fewer and fewer Maori being fluent in their own language. The rate fell from 90 percent in 2010 to 20 percent. A change in the country’s name would help “restore the status of our language,” said Ngarewa-Packer.

Many companies and government agencies in the island nation already use the name Aotearoa, which is also found on citizens’ passports. Te Reo Maori became an official language of New Zealand in July 1987.

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