First Contact

First Contact Tasman’s Arrival in Taitapu, 1642

by Anne Salmond

Announcing the release of this new BWB Text by Anne Salmond, which is now available from the BWB website and global e-bookstores.

About ‘First Contact’
‘As the Dutch replied in darkness with shouts and trumpet calls from the decks of their ships, the warriors must have been mystified by these creatures who entered into their rituals, yet used exotic instruments and spoke an unintelligible tongue.’

With the publication of her book Two Worlds, Anne Salmond introduced a penetrating rewriting of our traditional views of first contacts between Māori and European worlds, helping us to see these meetings with fresh eyes.

In this account of the dramatic visit of Abel Tasman’s Dutch ships to Golden Bay in 1642, Professor Salmond shows how giving equal weight to both sides of the encounter can shed fascinating new light on the actions and motives of both parties.

About the Author
Anne Salmond is Distinguished Professor at the University of Auckland. One of New Zealand’s most prominent anthropologists and historians, Professor Salmond is the author of the award-winning works Two Worlds: First Meetings between Maori and Europeans, 1642–1772; Between Worlds: Early Exchanges between Maori and Europeans, 1775–1815; The Trial of the Cannibal Dog: Captain Cook in the South Seas;Aphrodite’s Island: The European Discovery of Tahiti; and Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas.

In 1995 she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire for services to New Zealand history. She was made a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2008, and in 2009 she was elected as a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) for excellence in scientific research.

About BWB Texts
New BWB Texts are released monthly, with upcoming releases including works by Tipene O’Regan, Paul Dalziel & Caroline Saunders, and Shamubeel Eaqub.

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