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WEKU
WEKU
Ailsa Chang

New Zealand considers changing its name to confront its troubled colonial past

Maori Party co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer speak to media during the opening of New Zealand's 53rd Parliament. (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

As the people of New Zealand confront their nation's troubled past with colonization and denying the Maori people rights, a name change for the island nation is being considered as a part of its own reckoning.

A petition that aims to change the Dutch anglicized name of New Zealand to its indigenous Maori designation of Aotearoa has collected more than 70,000 signatures, prompting a parliamentary committee to consider the idea.

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