Caught in the crossfire of inter-tribal wars, witnesses to cannibalism and to scenes of both ethereal beauty and chilling terror - the early European explorers of New Zealand were a diverse group of individuals who undertook voyages of sometimes epic proportions through the country. In The Voyagers, Paul Moon tells dramatic stories of Europeans discovering and exploring New Zealand during the first half of the 1800s. Ocean adventures, cross-country trekking, imperial and spiritual conquests, first contacts with Maori, artists seeking the 'sublime', scientific discovery and commercial pursuits all intertwine to form a fascinating portrait of a land undergoing immense change. Jules Dumont d'Urville, Samuel Marsden, Ferdinand von Hochstetter and Charles Heaphy complement an array of lesser known but no less intrepid explorers - soldiers and sailors, travellers and settlers, missionaries, artists and officials - all of whom ventured from their homelands in search of new horizons. The Voyagers is a perceptive and absorbing account of nineteenth-century exploration, and of the very human characters who helped put New Zealand on the map.

Author Biography

Dr Paul Moon is Professor of History at the Faculty of Maori Development, Auckland University of Technology, where he has taught since 1993. He has a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Philosophy, a Master of Arts, and a Doctor of Philosophy. In 2003, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society at University College, London. Moon is widely recognised for his study of the Treaty of Waitangi and the early period of Crown rule in New Zealand. Among his many published works, he has produced major biographies of political and Maori figures - including governors William Hobson and Robert FitzRoy, and the Ngapuhi chief, Hone Heke; a trilogy of books covering New Zealand history from the 1820s to the 1840s; an examination of Maori cannibalism; and two general histories of New Zealand.