Croatian New Zealanders

Croatian New Zealanders refers to New Zealand citizens of Croatian descent. There are 2,550 people who declared their nationality as Croats in the 2006 New Zealand census.^[3] The majority of these are located primarily in and around Auckland and Northland with small numbers in and around Canterbury and Southland.^[4] It is estimated that over 100,000 people have Croatian ancestry.^[5]

History

The earliest Croatian settlers in New Zealand date from the 1860s, largely arriving as sailors, gold miners, prospectors and pioneers. Following this, five significant influxes of Croats have arrived:^[6]

• 5,000 between 1890 and 1914, prior to World War I.
• 1,600 during the 1920s before the onset of the Great Depression.
• 600 in the 1930s, prior to World War II.
• 3,200 between 1945 and 1970.
• Arrivals during the 1990s, fleeing the conflict in former Yugoslavia.

In July 2008, 800 people attended a celebration of 150 years of Croatian settlement in New Zealand hosted by Prime Minister Helen Clark and Ethnic Affairs Minister Chris Carter.^[7]

Literature

• Trupinić, Damir. (2009) New Zealand Croatian Immigrant Press 1899-1916, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, ISBN 978-3-8383-0743-5.
• Božić-Vrbančić, Senka. (2008) Tarara: Croats and Maori in New Zealand : memory, belonging, identity, Otago University Press, ISBN 978-1-877372-09-4.

References

See also

• Croats
• List of Croats

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