I am not sure I would agree that Maoris are more integrated and less disenfranchised than indigenous groups of Australia and "the Americas." The Americas includes a lot of different independent countries, and each country has a different track record with regard to disenfranchisement and integration. As far as the Maoris go, New Zealand (or Aotearoa) developed similarly to other British colonies with regard to indigenous peoples. Initially, the Europeans traded with the Maoris, who owned all the land and were all of the people there. In the early 1800's, the Maori tribes were still battling each other over land disputes and supremacy. The Europeans introduced muskets through trade, and the battles between tribes became exponentially more lethal, taking a huge toll on the indigenous population. This resulted was that about half of the Maori population disappeared after 40 years of fighting (from 100,000 to 50,000 or so). In 1840, the British, fearing that the French would claim New Zealand in their colonial efforts in the South Pacific, sent the navy captain William Hobson with instructions to negotiate a treaty with the Maori chiefs that would make New Zealand subject to the crown. Most of the Maori chiefs signed off on the treaty, although some refused. The problem was that the treaty was written in both English and Maori, and the chiefs signed the Maori version. The translation into Maori was not accurate (there is a lot of debate about whether that was intentional or not), and Maori was not a written language anyways until the Europeans arrived. After signing the treaty of Watagi (pronounced Wahtahngee) in 1840, many British began arriving to settle. The Europeans introduced with them infectious diseases, such as small pox, whooping cough, and measles, for which the Maoris lacked acquired immunity. Their population again reduced drastically, from between 10 and 50% into the late 1800s. Meanwhile, the British continued to come and settle. Because the Maoris did not agree with the interpretation of the Treaty of Watagi regarding property rights, within 20 years the British were fighting various Maori tribes in the New Zealand wars (which began in 1860). While these wars did not lead to mass deaths, they did result in the Maoris losing most of their land. The Native Land Acts of 1862 was designed to give Maoris private property rights rather than collective ownership of tribal lands. It resulted in Maoris selling 95% of their land between 1840 and 1890 (with a fair amount of it simply taken as retaliation for the New Zealand Wars). By 1891, Maoris were just 10% of the population of New Zealand, and most of the land they owned was of poor quality. By 1896, there were 42,000 Maoris and more than 700,000 Europeans. While Maori populations have recovered and grown, they remain a relatively small minority in New Zealand. The Maoris do have some seats in congress reserved for them, but it is a relatively small amount. Virtually all of the political leaders and all prime ministers of New Zealand have been Europeans (although James Carroll, a Maori, served as acting prime minister twice).