The multi-faceted Charles Heaphy made quite an impact on colonial New Zealand as an artist, explorer, soldier and colonial administrator. He was the first colonial soldier to win the Victoria Cross.
HMS Britomart arrived at Akaroa, on Banks Peninsula, a week before a shipload of French colonists landed. The ship's captain raised the Union Jack to confirm British sovereignty over the area.
Towards noon the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted 'a large land, uplifted high'. What he saw may have been the peaks of the Paparoa Range behind Punakaiki.
In a feat of great navigational daring - and after several attempts - the French explorer Dumont d'Urville sailed the Astrolabe through French Pass into Admiralty Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.
Julius von Haast's exploration of the West Coast revealed the extent of the Grey River coalfields and found traces of gold in rivers. The Haast Pass and Haast River are named after him.
After charting the coastline, European surveying and exploration of the interior were a fundamental part of the settlement process, defining the boundaries of ownership and identifying resources, useable land and access routes.
Spanish and the Portuguese had an active presence in the Pacific from the early 16th century, but there is no firm evidence of Europeans reaching New Zealand before Abel Tasman in 1642.
The romance and sheer challenge of getting to New Zealand have made the Polynesian discovery and European rediscovery of these islands popular topics of study.
