Maori History in the Waikato
Moa-hunting Polynesians were the first people to make themselves familiar with the region. In pursuit of the giant bird they burned off forest cover, but left little other evidence of their life here.
According to the tradition of the Classic Maori, the entire Waikato region was populated by the occupants of one migratory canoe, the Tainui. Recent research suggests that the Tainui may not have been a canoe from the tropics, but rather from the north of New Zealand, and that its occupants were people on the move south because of overcrowding or war.
Folklore says they did not find the region altogether empty. The Waikato's western shore was occupied by a people (presumably descendants of the original moa hunters) named Kahu-pungapunga, who dyed their garments yellow.
They were dispossessed and driven inland, eventually to be extinguished on the tall rock of Pohaturoa near Atiamuri, above the Waikato River. The Tainui tribes - including the Ngati Raukawa, the Ngati Paoa, the Ngati Toa and the Ngati Haua - were among the strongest and (as Europeans were later to find) the proudest tribes in all-Maori Aotearoa.
Despite ancestral affinity the tribesmen of the Waikato tore themselves apart with petty vendettas that became wars. The last great traditional battle, just north of Te Awamutu in about 1807, involved an estimated nine thousand warriors.
The Waikato was the most densely populated inland region in the Classic Maori era. It also seems to have been the most rumbustious.
Ngapui Invades
Despite ancestral affinity the tribesmen of the Waikato tore themselves apart with petty vendettas that became wars. The last great traditional battle, just north of Te Awamutu in about 1807, involved an estimated nine thousand warriors.
Despite ancestral affinity the tribesmen of the Waikato tore themselves apart with petty vendettas that became wars. The last great traditional battle, just north ofTe Awamutu in about 1807, involved an estimated nine thousand warriors.
Fifteen years later invasion by Northland's Ngapuhi armed with muskets meant the end of traditional Maori warfare. Possibly as many as ten thousand Waikato people were killed or enslaved.
The result was that the Waikato tribes welcomed European traders. They could barter flax and other produce for muskets. With these they not only repelled further Ngapuhi incursions (in 1832), but invaded parts of Northland in reprisal.
Though there was a trading post at the mouth of the Waikato River by 1830, and soon another at Raglan, Europeans were not fast to move far inland. The difficulties, once the river highway was left behind, were immense.
'We tramped on in the rain and wet brushwood and swamp', records one early traveller. 'Now and then the mosquitoes' hum announced that the insects were waiting for their prey ... [There were} fern wastes and steep tree bridges wet and slippery over foaming torrents.
Fifteen years later invasion by Northland's Ngapuhi armed with muskets meant the end of traditional Maori warfare. Possibly as many as ten thousand Waikato people were killed or enslaved.
The result was that the tribes welcomed European traders. They could barter flax and other produce for muskets. With these they not only repelled further Ngapuhi incursions (in 1832), but invaded parts of Northland in reprisal.
History of the Waikato River «Back (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) Next»
