Born on the island of Corsica in 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte came to prominence as a brilliant military commander during the French Revolution. After taking power in Paris in November 1799, Napoleon made himself emperor in 1804. He led a series of victorious campaigns to dominate Europe by 1807, but his ill-fated Russian campaign of 1812 contributed to his downfall in 1814. A brief restoration in 1815 came to an end with the Battle of Waterloo, and he died in exile on the remote island of Saint Helena in 1821.How Did Napoleon Rise to Power?The 13 Vendemiaire Uprising by Isidore Stanislas-Helman, after Charles Monnet, c. 1797. Source: Muse Carnavalet via Wikimedia CommonsNapoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio on the Mediterranean island of Corsica on August 15, 1769. His father, Carlo di Buonaparte, briefly served as secretary to Corsican independence leader Pasquale Paoli in the 1760s. Corsica had been a colony of the Italian city-state of Genoa, and in 1768, the Genoese sold their claim on the island to France. After Paoli was defeated by the French and went into exile in England, Carlo decided to transfer his allegiance to France.Although he studied as an artillery officer in France, Napoleons relatively modest background limited his prospects for high command, and he was an ardent Corsican nationalist in his youth. However, Napoleons desire to play a role in Corsican politics during the early years of the French Revolution was denied by his childhood hero Paoli. Threats against his family in Corsica compelled the Bonaparte family to escape to mainland France.Napoleon first came to prominence in the French Army during the Siege of Toulon in 1793. The young artillery officer identified key positions to site his guns in order to bombard Admiral Samuel Hoods British fleet and force him to withdraw. This brought him to the attention of Paul Barras, who became the key figure in the republican government after the fall of Robespierre in August 1794. When a Royalist mob attacked Paris on October 5, 1795 (13 Vendemiaire in the French Republican Calendar), Napoleon fired canisters from his guns to disperse the rebels and earned the nickname General Vendemiaire.Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole by Antoine-Jean Gros, 1796. Source: Muse du Louvre, ParisShortly after marrying Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon took command of the Army of Italy in the spring of 1796. The young General Bonaparte astonished Europe by defeating a string of Austrian armies in northern Italy. He was poised to strike at Vienna when he concluded the favorable Treaty of Campo Formio, in which the Austrians recognized the satellite republics established by Napoleon in Italy in exchange for control of the territories of the defunct Venetian republic.In 1798, Napoleon embarked on a military and scientific expedition in Egypt. Despite early successes in defeating the Mamelukes and occupying the country, Napoleons army was isolated after the French fleet was destroyed near Alexandria by Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile. Napoleon invaded Syria and Palestine and defeated much larger Ottoman armies, but was forced to withdraw in May 1799 after failing to capture the port of Acre.Despite a mixed record in Egypt, Napoleon had seen greater success than the French generals in Europe, as an Austro-Russian army commanded by Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov reversed Napoleons conquests in Italy. Bonaparte believed France needed a stronger government to turn the tide of the war. After slipping away from Egypt in August 1799, Napoleon was back in Paris by mid-October. He joined forces with the revolutionary theorist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieys to overthrow the Directory on November 9, 1799, or 18 Brumaire, Year VIII in the Republican Calendar. Napoleon and his fellow plotters Roger Ducos and Sieys were named first, second, and third consuls respectively.Was Napoleon a Dictator?First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1804. Source: Wikimedia CommonsWhile Napoleon and Sieys worked on a new constitution, the final document was far closer to the formers vision than the latter. Under the terms of the Constitution of Year VIII, promulgated on December 15, the government was dominated by the executive, consisting of three consuls serving ten-year terms. While Napoleon was confirmed as the first consul, Sieys and Ducos were replaced as second and third consuls by the lawyer Jean-Jacques-Rgis de Cambacrs and the politician Charles-Franois Lebrun, respectively. However, the second and third consuls power was advisory, and executive power was concentrated in Napoleon as first consul.The new constitution severely weakened the legislature, which was now divided into three bodies. The Conservative Senate served as an upper chamber, made up of 60 to 80 members serving for life and appointed by the First Consul. The lower chamber was divided into the 100-member Tribunate and the 300-member Legislative Body. The former could debate laws but not vote on them, while the latter voted on the laws based on reports of the Tribunates deliberations. The constitution additionally established a Council of State appointed by the First Consul to advise the executive in administrative matters.By concentrating so much executive power in his hands and weakening the legislature, Napoleon had effectively given himself dictatorial powers. In order to obtain popular legitimacy, Napoleon organized a referendum on February 7, 1800, which saw 3 million votes in favor and some 1,500 against. Subsequent research has shown that Napoleons brother and interior minister Lucien Bonaparte manipulated the vote tally to double the number of yes votes.The installation of the Council of State at the Petit-Luxembourg Palace by Auguste Couder, 1856. Napoleon is seen on the rostrum with his fellow consuls Cambacrs and Lebrun. Source: Wikimedia CommonsNapoleon recognized that his hold on power was shaky. Although he crossed the Alps to win a narrow victory at Marengo on June 14, 1800 to take back Italy from the Austrians, he did not want to be away from Paris for long. During the Second Italian Campaign, he was away from the capital for less than two months between May 6 and July 2.Despite almost unlimited powers and his manipulation of the electoral process, Napoleon did not resemble the dictators of the 20th century. Although a military officer himself, his government was predominantly staffed by civilians rather than military officials. His political program was moderate, balancing the interests of radical revolutionaries and reactionary royalists.Napoleons major accomplishment as a political leader was the creation of the Civil Code, later renamed the Napoleonic Code, in 1804. The Napoleonic Code forms the basis for the civil law systems in continental Europe, as opposed to the common law tradition in Britain and the United States.The ten-year consular term, though indefinitely renewable, served as one of the few theoretical limitations on Napoleons power. In 1802, Napoleon removed this by revising the constitution to make himself First Consul for Life. Once again, the new constitution was adopted after a lopsided referendum. Napoleons decision to make himself First Consul for Life paved the way for his becoming emperor in May 1804. His powers remained largely unchanged, but the new imperial system enabled him to create a new aristocracy and revive the title of marshal, which he granted to 18 of his subordinates.Who Defeated Napoleon?Archduke Charles at the Battle of Aspern-Essling by Johann Peter Krafft, 1820. Source: Wikimedia Commons (Liechtenstein Collections)Napoleons stunning victory at the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805 against an Austro-Russian coalition army laid the ground for his domination of continental Europe by July 1807, when he signed the Treaty of Tilsit with Tsar Alexander I of Russia after defeating the Russian army at the Battle of Friedland.In 1808, Napoleon intervened in Spain by deposing the Bourbon monarchy and installing his brother Joseph as king. Spanish armed opposition to Napoleonic rule marked the beginning of the Peninsular War. After a French corps was defeated by a Spanish force at the Battle of Bailn in July 1808, Napoleon personally led a large army into Spain in the winter of 1808-09. While the emperors efforts improved the situation for the French, he never returned to Spain and his subordinates were eventually defeated by a combination of Spanish and Anglo-Portuguese forces under Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington.Napoleon suffered his first major defeat in 1809 as Austria resumed hostilities against France four years after Austerlitz. After occupying Vienna, Napoleon attempted to cross the Danube and was defeated by Archduke Charles of Austria at the Battle of Aspern-Essling on May 21-22, 1809, during which the emperors close friend and talented subordinate Marshal Lannes was killed. Although Napoleon was ultimately victorious in the campaign after defeating the Austrian archduke at Wagram in early July, the setback at Aspern-Essling demonstrated that the French army was no longer invincible, even with Napoleon in command.Wellington and Blcher after the Battle of Waterloo (central section). Print by Charles William Sharpe after painting by Daniel Maclise in the Palace of Westminster, 1879. Source: Army and Navy ClubIn 1812, after increasing tensions over trade and the status of Poland, Napoleon invaded Russia with more than half a million men. The Russian commander-in-chief, Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, and his successor Mikhail Kutuzov recognized that they could not fight Napoleon while heavily outnumbered. While Napoleon entered Moscow in mid-September after the Battle of Borodino, he was forced to leave in October as winter approached. Napoleons army suffered terribly during its retreat due to cold weather, lack of supplies, and constant pressure from Russian light cavalry.Following his Russian disaster, Napoleon organized a new army to take on the armies of the Sixth Coalition that had been formed against him. Although he defeated the Russo-Prussian army at Ltzen and Bautzen in Saxony in May 1813, his refusal of Austrian peace terms encouraged the latter to join the Sixth Coalition in August, with Austrian general Prince Karl Philipp von Schwarzenberg in supreme command. Napoleons defeat at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 compelled him to abandon Germany and Italy. Although he fought a brilliant defensive campaign in February 1814, the coalition armies occupied Paris at the end of March.After several months in exile on the island of Elba, Napoleon escaped to France and was restored to power on March 20, 1815. With almost the whole of Europe against him, Napoleon marched north against the Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Blchers armies. After defeating Blcher at Ligny on June 16, Napoleon attacked Wellingtons Anglo-Dutch-German army at Waterloo on June 18. Wellingtons men held onto the ridge, and the arrival of Blchers Prussians during the late afternoon decisively turned the battle in the Allies favor.Why Was Napoleon Exiled?Napoleons Departure from Elba, February 26, 1815 by Joseph Beaume, 1836. Source: Palace of Versailles, ParisAfter the Sixth Coalition Allies occupied Paris in March 1814, the political institutions in France recognized the new reality and on April 3 deposed Napoleon as emperor. The following day, Napoleon agreed to abdicate on the condition of his succession by his infant son, the King of Rome. This was denied by the Allies, and on April 6, Napoleon agreed to abdicate unconditionally. The Senate duly restored the Bourbon monarchy under Louis XVIII, brother of the guillotined Louis XVI.On April 11, Napoleon signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau and agreed to be exiled to the small Mediterranean island of Elba off the coast of Italy. He was to retain his title of emperor and was granted full sovereign rights over the island. He was even allowed to retain a small armed force of some 870 men and a navy consisting of a single ship, the Inconstant.Although a considerable downgrade in status from emperor of the French, Napoleons exile in Elba was relatively lenient. While the British and Prussians wanted to punish Napoleon, Tsar Alexander of Russia wanted to make a show of magnanimity, and Emperor Francis of Austria was Napoleons father-in-law.Napoleon on board the Bellerophon by William Quiller Orchardson, 1880. Source: Tate Gallery, LondonOn February 26, 1815, after receiving reports of the unpopularity of Louis XVIIIs government in France, Napoleon escaped from Elba and landed in France. Although he restored his empire for approximately 100 days, he was forced to abdicate for a second time after his defeat at Waterloo. Napoleon knew that the Prussians intended to capture and kill him and was determined to stay away from their clutches.Napoleons initial intention was to go to the port of Rochefort and find a ship that would take him to the United States. However, the port was blockaded by a British ship, HMS Bellerophon, and Napoleon had no choice but to throw himself at the mercy of Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland.After boarding the Bellerophon on July 15, Napoleon requested passage to North America. When this was refused, he asked for a small estate in England. With Napoleon on board, the Bellerophon sailed to England and anchored off Plymouth as the British government discussed what to do with their famous prisoner.After a few weeks, the British government decided to exile Napoleon to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. The British prime minister, Lord Liverpool, observed, The island of St Helena is the ideal place to lock away such a character. In such a place, so far away, no scheming of any kind will be possible and, far from Europe, he will be quickly forgotten. Napoleon was transferred to HMS Northumberland and arrived on October 15 after ten weeks at sea.How Did Napoleon Die?Longwood House, Saint Helena. Source: sainthelenaisland.infoNapoleon spent the remaining five-and-a-half years of his life on St. Helena. He initially stayed at the Briars, the home of William Balcombe of the East India Company, and befriended his hosts younger daughter Betsy. He was then moved to the more spacious Longwood House but complained that it was damp and windy and demanded better conditions.Napoleon spent his time on the remote windswept island working on his memoirs, which were recorded by his companions: Grand Marshal Comte Henri de Bertrand, General Comte Tristan de Montholon, chamberlain Comte Emmanuel de Las Cases, and General Gaspar Gourgaud. Napoleon initially enjoyed riding and taking walks, but within a year, his freedom of movement was severely restricted by Sir Hudson Lowe, the British governor of the island. Napoleon spent more time tending to his gardens at Longwood, designing sunken lanes to keep out of sight from the British sentries.By late 1820, Napoleons health was in severe decline and he complained of regular abdominal pains. In early January 1821, construction of more suitable quarters at New Longwood House had been completed, but Napoleon refused to move in. By March, he had become so weak that he rarely left his bed. On April 15, Napoleon wrote a will, in which he claimed, I die prematurely, assassinated by the English oligarchy and its assassin [i.e. Hudson Lowe] and indicated his desire to be buried on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.The body of Napoleon Bonaparte laid out after death, 1821. Wood engraving after J. Ward, 4th Regiment of Foot. Source: Wellcome CollectionOn May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte died in his bed at Longwood House at the age of 51. An autopsy the following day determined that he had died from stomach cancer. Napoleons assertion that he had been assassinated by the British has inspired persistent theories that he was deliberately poisoned. Investigations in the 20th century found that Napoleons hair contained arsenic, seeming to confirm the poisoning theory.However, the circumstances of Napoleons death continue to be a source of scientific and academic debate into the 21st century. Rather than a sign of poisoning, the arsenic in Napoleons hair may have come from his wallpaper decorated with Scheeles green, a popular shade that used copper arsenite. Arsenic was also used in medicine at the time, and Napoleons death may have been the result of misguided but not malicious efforts to cure him.Following his death, Napoleon was initially denied his request to be buried in Paris. Instead, he was buried on St. Helena at a site known as the Sane Valley, and subsequently the Valley of the Tomb. The French wanted the gravestone to simply say Napoleon, his style as emperor, but Lowe insisted on the full name Napoleon Bonaparte. As both sides refused to compromise, the stone remained blank. In 1840, British authorities allowed Napoleons remains to be exhumed and reburied in Paris at the Church of the Invalides on the south bank of the Seine.

The ancestors of the Mori sailed to Aotearoa/ New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud, from Eastern Polynesia, between 1250 and 1300 CE. They had inhabited the North and South Islands of present-day New Zealand for at least three centuries before the coming of Dutch seafarer and explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. Over the years, Mori society has successfully integrated elements from different cultures, surviving the Musket Wars and the New Zealand Wars, resisting land theft, displacement, and the devastating impact of European-imported diseases.A Note About TerminologyThe Ngatoroirangi Mine Bay Mori rock carvings at Lake Taup, Waikato, photograph by Callum Parker. Source: UnsplashLinguists and historians agree that it is somewhat incorrect to use the term Mori to describe the inhabitants of Aotearoa/New Zealand before the arrival of Europeans and the establishment of a settler society of European descent with settler rules and customs. As a term, Mori began to be used only in the 1860s, when Europeans and Mori alike needed a word to distinguish the newcomers from those who had been on the North and South Islands since the 13th century.Therefore, it is more appropriate to describe the early settlers of Aotearoa/New Zealand as the people whose descendants became Mori or the ancestors of the Mori rather than themselves Mori. In the 19th century, the term Mori entered general use alongside Pkeh. According to the Te Aka Mori Dictionary, Pkeh has several meanings.When used as a modifier, it translates as English, foreign, European, exotic. As a noun, it means foreigner, alien, and it is today used to describe any New Zealander of European descent without any Mori ancestry. The word Mori, on the contrary, translates as normal, usual, natural, common, ordinary, as well as native, indigenous, fresh.Mori War Dance, watercolor by Thomas John Grant, 1851. Source: Wikimedia CommonsMori describe themselves as tangata whenua, the Indigenous people of New Zealand, or, more poetically, the people of the land. Interestingly, according to Te Aka, as a noun, tangata whenua can also be translated as people born of the whenua, where whenua means both land and placenta. Hence, tangata whenua are the people born of the placenta and of the land where the peoples ancestors have lived and where their placenta are buried.The Settlement of Aotearoa/New ZealandChart of the Pacific Islands based on information provided by Tupaia, attributed to James Cook, 1769. Source: National History MuseumWhen discussing the settlement of Aotearoa/New Zealand, there are two perspectives to consider. One is the Western view, based on science and archaeological studies. The other is the body of legends and stories that the Mori have passed down from generation to generation.Archeologists and anthropologists have been able to determine that the first East Polynesian settlers deliberately landed on the East Coast of the North Island over 700 years ago, between 1250 and 1300. They were skilled navigators who used the stars as their guides. A new wave of ocean-going canoes arrived at various landing places on the coast of the North Island shortly afterward, while other sailors continued their journey along the coastline and up the Tmaki River, mapping and exploring their future home. A few weeks later, they sailed on their waka houruas, their large twin-hulled canoes, to the South Island, which they called Te Wai Pounamu, greenstone valley or river of greenstone.Raiatea, photograph by Fabien Bellanger. Source: UnsplashBut where in East Polynesia did they come from? Some believe that they were sailors from Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands, while others suggest that they came from Raiatea, in the Society Islands. Interestingly, Kupe, the legendary Polynesian sailor credited with first discovering Aotearoa, was the son of a woman from Raiatea and a man from Rarotonga. Although details about his life and deeds vary depending on which tribe (iwi) is telling his story, it is generally believed that he sailed from Hawaiki on Matawhourua, his (wifes) canoe, which could carry around 25 people.Hawaiki, the Moris mythical ancient homeland, appears in several stories across Polynesia. It was probably an island group, possibly the Marquesas, the Society Islands, or even the southern Cook Islands. Upon sighting New Zealand, Kupe thought it was a long white cloud: hence, New Zealands Mori name, Aotearoa, which translates as the land of the long white cloud.The Arrival of the Mori in New Zealand, painting by Charles Goldie & Louis Steele, 1898. Source: Australian National Maritime MuseumKupes crew landed at what is now Hokianga Harbour and eventually sailed down the coast reaching present-day Wellington Harbour. Kupe then sailed back to Hawaiki, where he told his people he had discovered an island inhabited only by birds.Some Mori legends also tell the story of a great fleet comprising seven canoes, which sailed from Tahiti and Rarotonga in 1350 and brought the ancestors of the Mori to Aotearoa/New Zealand. Various Mori tribes still trace their origins to the navigators of the seven canoes, as well as from their common ancestor, Mui. According to some legends, Mui fished the North Island out of the ocean and named it Te Ika-a-Mui, the fish of Mui. The South Islands Mori name is Te Waka-a-Mui, Muis canoe.Detail of a Mori waka, illustration by John Megahan. Source: National Museums ScotlandMembers of the Ngti Twharetoa Tribe claim to be the descendants of Ngtoro-i-rangi, who arrived in New Zealand on the Te Arawa canoe. The men and women of the Ngpuhi Tribe, on the contrary, believe that Rhiri, a descendant of Kupe, is their founding ancestor. In contrast, the Ngti Porou Tribe claims to have several foundation canoes, including the Nukutaimemeha, Horouta, Tereanini, and Tkitimu. To quote from Te Ara, some people believed these accounts were literally true. Others have seen them as poetic imaginings. The reality is likely to be somewhere in between. These traditions contain information about distantly remembered voyages, but have been enriched over time.Becoming MoriTraditional Mori wharenui (house). Source: Linden Museum StuttgartRadiocarbon dating of moa eggs has enabled archeologists to determine which island was settled first by the Moris ancestors. They appear to have landed first on the southern part of the North Island, which throughout the colonial period remained the last island to be permanently settled (or invaded) by Europeans. Only later did the ancestors of the Mori consistently colonize the eastern half of the South Island and eventually present-day Hawkes Bay and Wellington.The islands making up Aotearoa/New Zealand were way colder and larger than the Polynesian islands of their ancestors, and this forced the newcomers to adapt their customs and diet to survive the more temperate climate. And adapt they did, applying and perfecting traditional Polynesian crafts and cooking techniques to local resources, climate, and food availability. Indeed, many of the fruits they were accustomed to died or barely tolerated the new environment.Moa under attack by a Haasts Eagle, illustration by John Megahan. Source: Canterbury MuseumTo ensure the survival of sweet potatoes (kmara), the people whose descendants became Mori built insulated underground storage pits. They also kept the soil warm with gravel. Their diet consisted mainly of moa, seals, and other large birds.Early Mori were probably moa hunters and the cause of their extinction. Archeologists and settlers began to discover the bones of these giant prehistoric flightless birds in the rivers shallows, among heaps of shell and sandbars, already in the 19th century. Although European settlers have continued to report sightings of moa in New Zealands most remote areas well into the 19th century, it is generally accepted that between the 1450s and the 1600s, all moa had become extinct. So had their main predator, the huge Haasts eagle.Traditional Mori catamaran, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. Source: Wikimedia CommonsHistorians believe that by 1500, that is, around 200 years after their arrival, the practices of Polynesian settlers had finally reached a point where they could be described as a clearly defined set of Mori laws, cultural practices, art forms, and oral stories. The inhabitants of Aotearoa were now building longer and narrower canoes because the larger boats and canoes of their ancestors were useless for navigating the islands rivers and coasts.Around 1500, they were probably speaking one single language (with several dialects), and building more elaborate wharenui, the traditional Mori meeting house. In some cases, their houses reached 10 meters (32 feet) in length and were decorated with elaborate wood carvings. In between the carvings, they often placed tukutuku wooden panels that consisted of vertical stakes and horizontal rods. In less than 200 years, the Mori had successfully transformed the landscape and had been transformed by it.Mori Against MoriMori war canoe, from the British Museums collection of drawings by A. Buchan, S. Parkinson, and J. F. Miller, 1768-1771. Source: Wikimedia CommonsIn New Zealand, the 19th century was marked by wars among Mori society and between Mori tribes and the British. The Musket Wars first and the New Zealand Wars later redefined tribal boundaries, Mori warfare, and the Moris place in New Zealands society. They led to the displacement of thousands of people and to a redistribution of power among Mori tribes, which in turn paved the way for the permanent settlement of Europeans.The Musket Wars ravaged the North and South Islands from the early 1800s to the 1840s. As the name suggests, they were marked by the widespread use of muskets, introduced among Mori tribes by Chief Hongi Hika of the Ngpuhi Tribe, after a successful trip to Sydney in 1821, where he obtained over 300 muskets. Although intertribal warfare involving muskets continued, to a lesser degree, after 1840, the Musket Wars were followed by almost two decades of peace.Mori men and women performing haka, the traditional Mori war dance, painting by Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816-1854), 1845. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThen the so-called New Zealand wars broke out, a series of battles and clashes between government forces and various Mori tribes, especially on the North Island, where Mori still retained most of their lands. They lasted more than a decade, from 1860 to 1872. It would be incorrect, however, to frame the New Zealand Wars as a conflict exclusively between Mori and Pkeh. There were other forces at play. Government forces, for instance, included troops from the Australian mainland and England.Secondly, some Mori tribes allied themselves with British troops against other Mori. Once again, Mori society was torn apart. The New Zealand Wars also saw the emergence of Mori prophetic movements and the establishment of the Kngitanga (Mori King movement), a pan-tribal movement unifying tribes under one king that the Mori believed could match the power of Queen Victoria.The Impact of Colonialism on Mori SocietyMori children playing cards outside their house, photograph by William Henry Jackson, 1895. Source: Wikimedia CommonsBy 1860, Pkeh outnumbered the Mori. By the 1890s, the Mori population had fallen by more than half. Although not exclusively through violence, as happened in mainland Australia and particularly in Tasmania, in the 1890s the New Zealand Mori were gradually dispossessed of their lands, deprived of the means to survive, and often underpaid and discriminated against.Over the previous decades, European-introduced flora and fauna had severely curtailed their economy, and new infections, especially tuberculosis, influenza, and sexually transmitted diseases, had weakened the population. At the turn of the century, Mori society was extremely vulnerable to premature death, especially among children, as well as to European-imported diseases and extreme poverty.The Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, today considered New Zealands founding document, painting by Marcus King, 1938. Source: Wikimedia CommonsBy the turn of the century, while the Pkeh population was seeing rising child survival rates, Mori children were dying en masse from respiratory infections and poor living standards. The loss of their ancestral lands was closely linked to a decline in resources, as many family groups relied on the land and the sea for survival. It also had an impact on mental health. Indeed, for many tribes, land loss meant a loss of power and prestige.Sometimes, deciding not to sell the land to European buyers turned out to be the worst choice. P. M. Smith writes that hap, that is, kinship groups, who kept land suffered too because multiple owners shared blocks that were too small for everyone and were often uneconomic. Overall, the success of Pkeh men and women depended on Mori land loss and, to quote again from P. M. Smith, settler New Zealand was young, vigorous, and suddenly dominant.Reclaiming Mori AgencyLake Taup, with Mount Tauhara in the background. Source: Wikimedia CommonsLake Taup, in New Zealands North Island, is sacred to the Ngti Twharetoa tribe, the owners of a large area across the central plateau of the North Island. In the years following the New Zealand Wars, instead of opposing European settlement along the shores of their lake, which they probably understood to be inevitable, the Ngti Twharetoa demanded to oversee the settlement and any timber milling development to share in the economic revenue.The Lake Taup case is emblematic of the Moris approach to colonization. Tribes across the South and North Islands gradually embraced literacy and used it against the Pkeh to demand a recognition of their rights. Other Mori tribes recognized the importance of sharing their resources with the newcomers, as happened in 1880 at Rotorua.Rotorua, photograph by Punyashree Venkatram. Source: UnsplashAn important geothermal region in the Bay of Plenty Region of the North Island, Rotorua was known for its hot mud pools and geysers. It had been inhabited by the Ngti Whakaue Tribe since the 14th century. When, in the 1880s, Sir William Fox (1812-1893) argued that the entire region should be transformed into a national park, the local Mori community suggested the establishment of a town around the Rotorua hot springs that would attract tourists from all over the world. Rather than selling them, they leased their geysers and the surrounding lands (overall 50 acres) to the Crown.Although one year later, with the passing of the Thermal Springs District Act, the government was granted exclusive rights to purchase and lease the hot springs lands, it was a bold move on the side of the Ngti Whakaue and a testimony to Moris ability to adapt to a changing world.The Kotahitanga Mori parliament at Pakirikiri near Gisborne, photograph by Daniel Manders Beere, 1894. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe pan-tribal Kotahitanga movement was particularly active in resisting Pkeh claims over Mori lands through the actions of its separate parliament. From 1897, it also ran its newspaper, Te Puke ki Hikurangi. The 6th sitting of the Kotahitanga Parliament was convened in 1897 at Ppwai, near Greytown, where Mori leaders met with New Zealands Prime Minister Richard Seddon (1845-1906). The establishment of the Kotahitanga Parliament expanded on the actions of Te Kauhanganui, the Mori parliament established by the Kngitanga.While Kngitanga called for the coming together of Mori tribes in the Waikato-Tainui region in the western central region of the North Island, the Kotahitanga Parliament wanted the union of all Mori tribes. From 1897, the Youth Mori Party, led by James Carroll (1857-1926) and pirana Ngata (1874-1950), further advanced Mori claims.Being Mori TodayMori dancers performing haka, 2016. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAccording to the 2023 census, almost 1 million New Zealanders are Mori. New Zealanders of Mori descent, that is, those who have Mori whakapapa, make up 19.6 percent of the total population, with an 18.5 percent increase in the last quinquennial, between 2018 and 2023. One in five people in New Zealand today are of Mori descent.By contrast, New Zealanders who identify as Mori (or, to put it in another way, people who affiliate with the Mori as an ethnic group) make up about 17.8 percent of the population, with a 12.5 percent increase in the last quinquennial. New Zealanders who identify as Pkeh or European comprise 67.8 percent of the population. Today, the Mori population is on average more than ten years younger than its Pkeh counterpart, with the largest Mori communities living in the Auckland region, followed by Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.Poster for the Mori Language Week, an annual celebration held in the third week of September to celebrate and promote the Mori language. Source: Auckland MuseumToday, the Mori are actively engaged in revitalizing their culture and language. In 1987, the Parliament of New Zealand passed the Mori Language Act, which gave official language status to te reo Mori, the Mori language, conferred its speakers the right to use it in any legal proceedings, and established the Mori Language Commission (Te Taura Whiri I te Reo Mori). The term Mori has been written without macrons for decades. Today, such an omission is considered disrespectful.More than three centuries after contact, Mori men and women continue to play a vital role in shaping New Zealands politics, culture, sports, and national identity while retaining and honoring the stories and practices of their East Polynesian ancestors.

The term Celtic is a nebulous one and refers to a broad, heterogeneous group of people spread across time and space. Nevertheless, similarities in religious beliefs and practices are some of the elements that unite the disparate group known as the Celts. This article attempts to provide a high-level overview of Celtic cosmology, explaining where the Celts believed the world came from, what it looked like, and what deities and other powers were active in the world.What Is Cosmology?Stonehenge, c. 2500 BCE, Wiltshire, England. Source: English HeritageCosmology is the study of the physical universe. While modern cosmology is an area of inquiry in physics and astronomy, cosmology, as it relates to ancient civilizations, is more of a philosophical study. It is the analysis of how historical people believed the universe to work. Ancient cosmology helped people understand where they came from and navigate their place in a sometimes inexplicable world. Therefore, cosmology includes creation myths, beliefs about the afterlife, and the accepted understanding of the higher powers that govern and shape reality.The pursuit of identifying a Celtic cosmology is challenging because there are very few sources written from the Celtic perspective pertaining to their beliefs. Nevertheless, archeologists and historians have begun to piece together a plausible picture of Celtic cosmology from excavations of their ritual spaces and accounts of the Celts written by other ancient peoples. This article focuses primarily on Celtic cosmology in Ireland, as it is the most well-represented in medieval texts.Origins of the Universe in Celtic CosmologyKing Oak, Tullamore, Ireland. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThough the Celts, especially the Druids, the high-ranking class of religious leaders in Celtic society, certainly had ideas about how the universe came to be, we know very little about this particular aspect of Celtic cosmology. We have a better idea of how they believed humans came to be, particularly with respect to the Celtic peoples living in Ireland.The Tuatha D Danann, or folk of the goddess Danu, were a supernatural race of people who settled in Ireland and would become the gods, fairy folk, and high kings, thus rendering the people living in that area their descendants. Therefore, some Celtic cultures believed that humans were the descendants of the deities that they worshiped.Like other pagan cosmologies, such as Norse cosmology, the Celts probably believed that the universe was divided into multiple realms. The Celts likely believed the sky to be held up above the earth by pillars, with the earth being the middle realm and the sea the lowest realm. The Goidelic word for earth is talam, or the proto-Celtic tela-mon, meaning bearer or upholder. This suggests that the heavens were supported by the earth. The three realms are referenced in early Irish texts, as is the idea of the potential for the heavens to crash down on earth or the earth to fall into the sea.Apocalyptic VisionsSt. Patrick Lighting the Paschal Fire on the Hill of Slane, by Vincent Waldr, c. 1800. Source: Voices from the DawnWritings on apocalyptic visions in pagan Celtic Ireland appear in early medieval texts, such Trechns Collectanea, written c. 664 CE. Trechns work asserted that the Druids had their own word for the Christian day of judgment, the day of erdathe, and that this day would come with fire. Much of this discussion was oriented around Saint Patricks arrival in Ireland at Slane during the fifth century CE. Regarding the Celtic fear of fire, Trechn wrote of Saint Patrick:He came to the spring of Findmag which is called Slan, because he was told that the druids honored that spring and sacrificed gifts to it as if it were a god. It was a four-sided spring, and there was a four-sided stone in the springs mouth; and the water came over the stone, that is, through the mortar, like a royal road. And the unbelievers said that a certain deceased prophet made a casket (bibliothica) for himself in the water beneath the stone, so that his bones could whiten for-ever, for he feared the burning of fire (ignis exustionem).Saint Patrick Lights the Paschal Fire at Slane, by Sean Keating, 1932. Source: Irish College, RomeSaint Patricks role in early medieval Irish fears about the end of the world, rooted in their pagan past, is somewhat unclear. It is said that he made a request of the Christian God that the Irish be destroyed by the sea seven years before the day of judgment, rather than be subject to it. This could have been influenced by his purported observation of the pagan prophet requesting to be buried underwater out of fear of fire.It is also said, however, that Saint Patrick announced his arrival in Ireland at the Boyne Valley on the Hill of Slane by lighting the Paschal fire in celebration of Easter and in defiance of the nearby pagan festivities on the Hill of Tara, where Druids were celebrating the Feast of Tara. When the Druids observed this fire, they reported to King Laoghaire that if it were not extinguished that night, it would burn forever. The king and the Druids challenged Saint Patrick, lost, and eventually accepted Christian conversion. Perhaps this was the apocalypse by fire that was foretold by the pagan Celts.A Celtic Pantheon of GodsDetail of Cernunnos on the Gundestrup Cauldron, c. 150-1 BCE, La Tne, Himmerland, Denmark. Source: Wikimedia CommonsA pantheon refers to the officially recognized gods of a given religion. Putting together a definitive Celtic pantheon is nearly impossible, as the various Celtic cultures living across Iron Age Europe worshiped a variety of deities particular to their geographic area. There are, however, a few gods that were consistently worshiped by multiple groups of Celtic peoples.These gods include Danu, the Celtic mother goddess and goddess of earth and fertility; the Dagda, the father god and god of agriculture and the seasons; Morrigan, the goddess of war, death, and fate; Brigid, goddess of healing, wisdom, and smithing, as well as the goddess celebrated during the pagan holiday Imbolc; Lugh or Lugus, the sun god; and Cernunnos, god of the forest and animals.It is thought that the Celts believed that the gods were responsible both for human existence, whether through creation myths or as divine ancestors, and for their lived experience. They believed that worshiping the gods would ensure prosperity and success for their community.The Celts also believed in animism, or the belief that all things in the natural world possessed a spirit or a soul. This includes trees, rivers, rocks, animals, lakes, and even wells. They believed that these aspects of the natural world were possessed by the indwelling spirits of gods, godlings, and other minor deities, and that they all required worship through the form of prayer and ritual offerings. This is supported by the archeological record and suggests that the Celts felt a spiritual connection with their landscape.The Tuatha D Danann and Irish MythologyThe Riders of the Sidhe, by John Duncan, 1911. Source: Dundee Art Galleries and Museum CollectionAs discussed above, Irish mythology traces its pagan roots back to the legendary Tuatha D Danann. These were a supernatural race of beings, often depicted as kings, queens, druids, bards, warriors, heroes, healers, and craftsmen, and thought to be the deities of pre-Christian Ireland.Many of the texts on the Tuatha D Danann were written by medieval Christian authors interested in Irish mythology, but trying to understand it through the lens of Christianity. Some legends hold that the Tuatha D Danann eventually became the high kings of Ireland, meaning that the Irish people were their descendants. Others believe that they left this world to go into the Otherworld, with the arrival of the Gaels in Ireland. Many of the gods and goddesses of the Celtic pantheon are said to have been members of the Tuatha D Danann, including the Dagda, Morrigan, and Lugh.The Tuatha D Danann are often associated with specific places in the landscape, particularly the sdh mounds. These are ancient burial mounds and passage tombs in Ireland that are believed to be entrances to the Otherworld. One such place often associated with the Tuatha D Danann is Newgrange, a neolithic monument, passage tomb, and space for ritual worship that was built by c. 3200 BCE. The mound was initially thought to be the resting place of the Dagda, but some legends suggest that he was tricked out of ownership of Newgrange by his son, Oengus g. Regardless, the Tuatha D Danann and the various tales of their lives are thoroughly baked into Irish mythology and are heavily associated with pagan and Christian Irish thought on the origins of the universe.Druidic Practice: Realms, Cauldrons, and ElementsThe Druids, or the conversion of the Britons to Christianity, by S.F. Ravenet after F. Hayman, 1752. Source: Wikimedia CommonsWhile the Druids are one of the most popular aspects of the Celtic past, we know very little about them and their practice. What we know about Druidic belief comes from Roman encounters with them and medieval texts attempting to elucidate what their ritual work looked like. Julius Caesar wrote of the Druids in his Gallic Wars, saying that they prohibited their members from writing down their religious beliefs, as they did not want their doctrines to become public knowledge. They preferred their practitioners to memorize their teachings rather than being able to consult texts. Historians maintain that Druids were likely among the highest-ranking members of Celtic society and were certainly its religious leaders.As Druidic belief was not recorded, it is difficult to come to a complete picture of it, and modern Druidry has little connection with ancient practices. Nevertheless, Luke Eastwood, a modern Druid and writer, has written that they likely believed in the importance of the four compass directions as well as above, below, outside, inside, and through. These nine directions corresponded with the nine elements (Dile) related to the cosmos (Bith): stone, earth, plant life, sea, wind, moon, sun, cloud, and heaven.These elements were intertwined with the three realms of the cosmos, sky, land, and sea, as well as the three cauldrons of the human body: wisdom (sois), related to the head, vocation (ernmae), related to the body, and warming (goriath) related to the blood. The three realms are represented in the Bile Buadha or World Tree. The universe unites all these things together through a life-force that flows through all things. This idea is related to the previously discussed notions of animism, that all things possess a life-force in Celtic thought.Interestingly, Norse mythology is also focused on a mighty world tree called Yggdrasil, and considered the number nine sacred, with the cosmos being composed of nine realms.An Archdruid in his Judicial Habit, by Samuel Rush Meyrick and Charles Hamilton Smith, 1815. Source: Amgueddfa CymruThat this is a rough outline of the Druidic belief system is supported by the kinds of rituals that archeologists believe them to have practiced. They are believed to have conducted rituals in sacred tree groves, specifically oak groves, which could provide a connection to the World Tree and a source of innate strength. Trees were very significant in Celtic belief, not just because of the World Tree, but also because of the idea that the sky was held up above the earth by pillars. Trees could have been believed to be the very things protecting the earth from the sky falling onto it.Death, the Soul, and the Afterlife (Otherworld)Columns from Roquepertuse with niches for skull display, c. 3rd century BCE, Velaux, France. Source: Muse darchologie mditerranenne in MarseilleJulius Caesar wrote that the Celts believed that souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another, and they think that men by this tenet are in a great degree excited to valor, the fear of death being disregarded. Celtic ideas about the soul were further explored by Diodorus Siculus, who wrote that they believed the souls of men are immortal and that after a prescribed number of years they commence upon a new life, the soul entering into another body. It has been theorized that this other body that the soul occupies after death is a divine body existing in the Celtic Otherworld, or afterlife, which is believed to be inhabited by the Celtic gods.This idea of the soul existing in a divinely charged space after death lent itself to the development of the Celtic cult of the head and the practice of headhunting, head collecting, and displaying human heads, particularly in a ritual context. Celtic nobles also purportedly displayed human heads as proof of their conquests and military prowess. Sacred sites like those located at Roquepertuse and Entremont in France, formerly Gaul, support the notion of Celtic ritual worship of the human head. The Celts held that the head was the seat of the soul, and therefore the disembodied head, channeling its Otherworldly body, could allow the living to intercede with the divine.Newgrange, c. 3200 BCE, Donore, Co. Meath, Ireland. Source: National Museum of IrelandHow the Otherworld was accessed by the deceased varied between Iron Age Celtic cultures. Burial mounds could have been considered gateways between the mortal world and the Otherworld, particularly as burial mounds were often furnished with supplies for the deceased to take with them. Other Celtic groups are thought to have potentially engaged in ritual water burial for their dead, believing water to be a liminal space where the boundaries between the living world and the Otherworld were blurred.

Karl Marx didnt say anything specific about climate change yet in many ways predicted it. Living through the rise of the Industrial Revolution, he witnessed the emerging ecological consequences of rapid industrialization. In this context, he believed that the exploitation of nature was the central contradiction of capitalism. While often labeled a Promethean thinker, who championed the human conquest of nature, Marxs writings reveal deep concern for ecological issues. From the analysis of primitive accumulation in Capital to his writings on the concept of metabolic rift, Marx was clear: capitalism doesnt just exploit people it systematically depletes and destroys nature, pushing the earth ever closer to ecological collapse.What Did Marx Say About Ecology?Soviet postage stamp celebrating the centenary of Das Kapital, 1967, via the Atlas SocietyKarl Marx viewed capitalism as born through the violence of so-called primitive accumulation the seizure, enclosure, and commodification of land and expulsion of the incumbent population from it (Harvey, 2005). Writing about the great masses of men, historically torn from the land and hurled into the labor market, Marx (1967) concluded that the expropriation of the agricultural producer, of the peasant, from the soil, is the basis of the whole process.Marx and Engels at the Reischene Zeitung by E. Capiro, 1849. Source: Wikimedia CommonsCapital came into the world dripping with blood and dirt from head to toe (Marx, 1967). Beyond its human toll, Marx also recognized that the environmental consequences of capitalism were disastrous. As capitalism expanded through relentless exploitation, it came to encompass not just human labor but all of nature itself.The contradiction of capitalist economics was that despite its dependence on natural resources, capitalism operates as if it can transcend the absolute natural limits of nature. Bound by the imperative to explore the earth in all directions and discover new, useful qualities in things (Marx, 2005), the system creates what Marx described as an irreparable rift between the natural world and the social metabolism of capitalism (Saito 2023).Metabolic RiftPre-capitalist agriculture: The Harvesters, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of ArtMarxs concert of metabolic rift refers to a fundamental disruption in the relationship between humans and nature caused by capitalist production. Drawing from the natural sciences, Marx (1967) used the term metabolism to describe the exchange of energy between human labor and the earth.Under capitalist conditions, Marx argued that resources are extracted from the earth, possessed, and consumed breaking the natural cycle and leading to ecological degradation. In pre-capitalist societies, metabolic exchange was localized and natural waste was returned to the land, maintaining an ecologically sustainable balance. Capitalist production has fundamentally disrupted this equilibrium, at the same time severing human societies from more natural conditions of existence.Karl Marx monument in Chemnitz. Source: Wikimedia CommonsCapitalism, by its very nature, seeks to transcend all barriers geographical, technological, and ecological to expand markets and maximize profit. It accelerates urbanization, distancing people from the natural world, and turns agriculture into a fully commodified industry that relies on artificial fertilizers and intensive farming practices. The relentless expansion of this system has led to a global ecological crisis on an unprecedented scale.Thus, at the heart of Marxs ecological critique is a stark warning: capitalisms systemic need for profit and growth leads to a rift that undermines the very ecological foundations upon which human life depends (Saito 2023).What Can Marx Tell Us About Climate Change?Portrait of Karl Marx by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, 1875. Source: International Institute of Social History.The general law of capitalist accumulation according to Karl Marx (1967) is the relentless pursuit of accumulation for accumulation sakes, production for production sakes. This process is not optional competition forces capitalists to obey the systems inherent logic as if an external, coercive law.Marxs analysis reveals capitalism to be an endlessly expanding system, locked into cycles of investment and reinvestment, incapable of respecting absolute natural limits. At its core, his critique of political economy highlights the capitalist logic of perpetual growth an imperative that directly conflicts with ecological sustainability.More than a century after Marxs death, his early warnings were echoed at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, where 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg denounced the fairy tales of eternal economic growth espoused by world leaders. She pointed out that for over thirty years the science had been crystal clear yet nothing but business as usual was offered up by global elites, as the world faces impending ecological collapse.In this light, the fundamental lesson of Marx is that climate change is not just a policy failure but the result of an irreparable rift between capitalism and the natural world.

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