New Zealand's Parliament recently passed a law that gives a mountain all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.
The indigenous Maori people of New Zealand consider the mountain their ancestor.
The mountain is now known by its Maori name, Taranaki Maonga.
The Maori people of New Zealand represent about 15% of the country's population.
Taranaki Maonga is a dormant volcano on New Zealand's North Island.
Snow covers the top of the 2516 meter high mountain.
It is a popular place for tourism, hiking, and snow sports.
The legal recognition of the mountain is one of the steps New Zealand's government has taken
to make up for harm the indigenous population suffered in the past.
The new law makes it known that the Taranaki area was stolen from the Maori after New Zealand was colonized.
The new law gives Taranaki Maonga all the rights, powers, duties, responsibilities, and liabilities of a person.
The law says a newly created group will be the face and voice of the mountain.
Four members from local Maori tribes and four members appointed by the country's conservation minister will be in the group.
Paul Goldsmith is the lawmaker responsible for the legal settlements between the government and Maori tribes.
In a speech to Parliament, he said,
The mountain has long been an honored ancestor, a source of physical, cultural, and spiritual sustenance, and a final resting place.
Britain colonized New Zealand in the 1700s and 1800s.
In 1770, the British explorer Captain James Cook named the volcano Mount Egmont.
In 1840, Maori tribes and representatives of the British government signed the Treaty of Waitangi.
The treaty promised the Maori would keep the rights to their land and resources.
However, the British government began breaking parts of the treaty after that.
In 1865, the government took a large area of Taranaki land, including the mountain, to punish the Maori for rebelling against British rule.
Over the next 100 years, hunting and sports groups helped oversee how the land was used, but the Maori did not.
Goldsmith told the Associated Press that, in the past, Maori customs connected to the mountain were banned, while the government supported tourism in the area.
The Maori protest movement of the 1970s and 1980s led to increased recognition of the Maori language, culture, and rights in New Zealand's law.
This has included billions of dollars to pay for the harm caused by breaking the Treaty of Waitangi.
The mountain's legal rights are in place to support its health and well-being.
The law will support traditional uses of the land and calls for conservation work to protect the native wildlife.
The mountain will remain open to the public.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to recognize landforms as people.
In 2014, a law gave personhood to Te Urewera, a large forest on the North Island.
Government ownership ended, and the Tuahoui tribe became its guardian.
And in 2017, New Zealand recognized the Whanganui River as a human, as part of a settlement with the tribe connected to the river.
All 123 lawmakers in Parliament supported the new law for Taranaki Maonga.
The unity of the vote was a change from recent disagreements in New Zealand about proposed changes to the Treaty of Waitangi itself.
In November, about 40,000 people marched to Parliament to protest a new law with proposed changes to the treaty.
The protesters said the new law would take away Maori rights and harm the progress that has been made during the last 50 years.
Most officials do not expect the bill with the proposed changes to become law. I'm Andrew Smith.