Early European settlement in New Zealand was small, with only around 200 settlers by 1840, but increased rapidly after the Treaty of Waitangi established British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840. The gold rushes of the 1860s attracted immigrants from outside Britain, particularly Americans and Chinese. The largest wave of immigration came in the 1870s, when over 289,000 people arrived in New Zealand over 15 years. Later waves saw many Pacific Islanders arrive in the 1960s-70s for work, and Asian immigration increased sharply in the late 1990s and 2000s, especially from China.

1. History of NZ immigration

2. Early Years NZ was first looked on as a lonely place

3. To begin there was only 200 people of European decent and over 100,000 Maori.

4. Most of the early europeans to settle in NZ were interested in trading and many people came to hunt seals and whales

5. A lot also escaped from the convict country of Australia

6. Immigration after 1840 Until 1839 there were only about 2,000 immigrants in New Zealand, by 1852 there were about 28,000.

7. This was due to the treaty being signed in 1840.