Abstract
Indigenous populations in the Pacific and elsewhere decreased in size during the early period of European colonization. A logically appealing explanation would be that this resulted from very high death rates, while birth rates were merely high, but there are few data to support or reject such a contention. Moreover, against this case must be placed the persistent reports that the declines resulted from ‘psychological depression following contact’; reports which appear to be based on a confusion between fertility levels and replacement levels. This paper reviews the data on the Maori population and provides a series of estimates which lend support to the argument that both fertility and mortality levels were high.