George Grey
George Edward Grey KCB, called by the Maori also He Mea Kohikohi May ( born April 14, 1812 in Lisbon, † September 19, 1898 in London) was a soldier, explorer, writer and Governor of South Australia, New Zealand and the Cape Colony (South Africa ). From 1877 to 1879 he was the prime minister of New Zealand.
Life
Grey was born in 1812 a few days after his father's death at the Battle of Badajoz.
As a young man in 1837 he led a ill-prepared expedition to explore the north-west of Australia. The exhausted, inexperienced members of the expedition were nearly drowned, Grey was injured in a confrontation with Aborigines. The group had to give up. A second expedition in 1839 also led to great difficulties. The participants were able to survive only with the help of a Noongar, who provided them with food and water. Grey learned one of the few Europeans the language of the Noongar.
From 1841 to 1845 he was Governor of South Australia. He distinguished himself particularly by its financial policy, which had to survive severe early days the colony.
He left Australia to be 1845 to 1853 and later from 1861 to 1868, Governor of New Zealand. He had great influence on the New Zealand Constitution of 1852, which enabled the country for the first time self-management, and was instrumental in the formation of provinces in New Zealand. He suggested Māori unrest down on the North Island, but on the other hand made sure that the agreements made with the Māori agreements, particularly the Treaty of Waitangi, have been complied with and land grab was omitted. His efforts to assimilate the Māori remain due to lack of adequate financial resources in contrast, essentially unsuccessful.
In his second term in the 1860 Grey learned the language of Māori and prompted that this verschriftlichten their legends and lore. In 1862 he purchased Kawau Iceland, which he tended as a private retreat. The following year he organized the Waikatokrieg that led to it. that the British could take the fertile farmland in the Waikato region in possession, and brought many British soldiers to the islands. In 1875 he was appointed superintendent of the province of Auckland and moved into Parliament. Between 1877 and 1879 he was prime minister.
Between his two terms of office in New Zealand from 1854 to 1861 was governor of the Cape Colony, where he founded the schools named after him, Grey College, Grey High School. Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, an African historian, raises Grey pretend to have the mid-19th century founders of apartheid.
Legacy
After Grey following places are named:
- Greytown (New Zealand)
- Grey River (New Zealand)
- Greymouth (New Zealand)
- Greytown (South Africa)
Works
- Polynesian Mythology. London 1855