Which statement is best supported by the excerpt? A. The British attempt to wipe out the Maori was successful. B. The Maori suffered a loss of population and decline in power. C. The British had little trouble conquering and colonizing New Zealand. D. The Maori population gradually declined after Britain colonized New Zealand.

B. The Maori suffered a loss of population and decline in power.

Explanation:

The number of Aboriginal people was particularly rapidly declining in areas with a high number of European immigrants. This was due to many factors, in particular, the emergence of diseases from which Aboriginal people did not have immunity, the emergence of serious conflicts and a number of other consequences of contacts between people involved in hunting and gathering, and a technically developed society engaged in livestock and farming.

European diseases and firearms (used between 1820-1830, when tribal wars intensified) caused a sharp decline in New Zealand's population by 1840, when it became a British colony

In the future, the population continued to decline, mainly due to low fertility and high mortality from tuberculosis. Beginning in 1865, the sale of land, carried out by the activities of the Native Land Court, had a great influence on population decline. By 1896, the Maori population had declined to 40,000, i. e., it was less than 5% of the total population of the country, and it was believed that the Maori were an endangered people.