It's a tragic story, one that was repeated around the world as European powers "discovered" lands inhabited by indigenous peoples. Property rights, culture, human rights were disregarded. It was a land grab, pure and simple, around the globe. The Maori survived. Other indigenous people were actually wiped out by direct and indirect (such as disease) effects of conquest.
A great post. I'm relieved to hear it was a research paper for a degree because the level of excellence would be a hard standard to match on my next post :)