Over time the Maori changed culturally and in terms of their lifestyle and diet, particularly due to their near isolation from other Polynesian cultures as well as new landscape, which is very different from most of Polynesia. However, in the 1800s the culture changed dramatically as Europeans began stopping on the islands regularly and trade began. Guns and other goods from Europe were introduced to many of the Maori living along the coasts and the culture and lifestyle began to slowly change as wars began, with a distinct advantage going to those along the coasts with guns.
More importantly, at about this same time, European missionaries began to settle the lands and many people converted to Christianity. This led to many changes in the Maori culture and lifestyle, but it also created peace, which inadvertently encouraged European settlement as trading posts soon turned into towns and cities and later the majority was ethnically European, not Maori.
As European settlement continued the dynamic in the country changed as many areas, particularly the North Island, became more European-influenced culturally. This expansion also stressed the Maori and their relationship with the Europeans, partially due to differing views on land use and ownership. This European expansion continued on to the South Island with the discovery of gold in the mid-1800s, giving the Maori even less space.
Relations between the two groups shifted multiple times as some Maori were integrated into ethnic European culture, while others fought for their rights. Ultimately, the two groups changed enough to get along and today there seems to be an understanding and expanding education on each other as they live unified as one for the most part. Aspects of Maori culture were lost, but aspects of European culture also changed to accept the Maori and their lifestyle. Today both groups maintain traditional aspects of their culture and lifestyle, but both have also adopted many aspects of the other's culture and lifestyle, making the people of New Zealand quite unique.