Only five generations ago, cannibalism was practiced throughout New Zealand when Maoris existed in a particularly violent society before Europeans arrived and introduced a civilized way of living.

Captain James Cook and his crew always suspected the Maoris were cannibals. On the 16^th of January 1770, in Queen Charlotte Sound, the English explorers came across two Maoris who had just eaten human flesh because one of them gave Cook the remains of a man’s forearm. They then made Cook and his men understand with basic signs that a few days earlier they had taken, killed and eaten the crew of another tribe’s canoe. read more