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Māori are a Polynesian people who arrived in New Zealand in a series of long ocean-going voyages across the Pacific and fairly rapidly spread over the country. There is no one place identified as the original homeland of the Māori, although in legend this is usually identified as "Hawaiki". Tradition has it that Hineteaparangi, wife of Kupe, an early visitor to these shores, first used the name Aotearoa ("long white cloud"). Some commentators, however, are sceptical as to whether this term was in general use prior to 1840.

On 18-19 December 1642, while searching for the great southern continent, Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman anchored in Golden Bay. The Māori blew a war horn and Tasman replied with trumpets. Following an attack on a ship's boat by some Māori, the Dutch returned fire before sailing away. Tasman named the area Murderers' Bay.

Captain James Cook, commanding HMS Endeavour, sighted the East Coast at Poverty Bay and came ashore at Tūranganui (now Gisborne) on 9 October 1769. Misunderstandings resulted in the sailors using their firearms and several Māori were killed. Cook sailed away along the East Coast on 10 October, searching for food and provisions. He did not formally claim New Zealand for Great Britain by right of discovery, which would have given the British Crown sovereignty under international law at the time.

A pattern of contact was established between Māori and early whalers and sealers. Europeans (or Pākehā) numbered barely a handful in any one place, and they often lived as guests of the estimated 100,000 Māori in their distinct and independent tribal regions. Early interaction with ships visiting to trade or take trees (for ships' spars) sometimes led to misunderstandings and violence. Crewmen sometimes broke local tapu or mistreated Māori, and occasionally openly plundered, for which Māori sought utu (satisfaction) by attacking the ships. This occurred with the Fancy in 1795, and the Royal Admiral in 1801, the Elizabeth, the Seringapatam and the Parramatta in 1808 and culminated with Her Majesty's Transport the Boyd in Whangaroa in 1809, where the ship was attacked and burnt. The subsequent massive retaliation, however, fell on the wrong village.

The Reverand Samuel Marsden, the Anglican Chaplain to the British penal colony in New South Wales, was one of the first missionaries in New Zealand. Despite an earlier visit in 1807, a Church Missionary Society (CMS) mission was not established at Rangihoua until December 1814. Three lay missionaries, William Hall, Thomas Kendall and John King, accompanied Marsden, who preached a sermon on Christmas Day – to Māori. This was interpreted for them by local chief Ruatara, who had earlier met Marsden in England. Marsden purchased a supply ship for the mission (the Active), and this was sent on a preliminary voyage in June 1814. At the same time, offences committed against Māori, whether on land or on board ships, led to Thomas Kendall being appointed as Resident Magistrate in the Bay of Islands by New South Wales Governor Macquarie. This was New Zealand's first judicial appointment.