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Ngā Pakanga Whenua o Mua - The New Zealand Wars

He timotimo tēnei — a taster of stories of the New Zealand Wars...

Atmospheric sky above some silhouetted Aotearoa hills

Books

Websites

Below are some general sources that give a good overview and timeline of Ngā Pakanga Whenua o Mua in the 19th Century — these are a great place to jump in and start learning.

  • New Zealand Wars on Te Ara, Story and overview by Danny Keenan
    "In the 1840s and 1860s conflict over sovereignty and land led to battles between government forces and some iwi Māori. The largest campaign was the clash between the Kīngitanga and the Crown. Land confiscations to punish iwi that fought against the Crown left a legacy of grievance."
  • New Zealand's Internal Wars on NZHistory
    "War changed the face of New Zealand in the 19th century. Tens of thousands of Māori may have died in the intertribal Musket Wars fought between the 1810s and the 1830s. Muskets revolutionised intertribal warfare, decimating some tribes and drastically shifting the boundaries of areas controlled by others. Thousands fled their traditional lands, complicating questions of ownership and opening large areas to potential Pākehā (European) settlement."

War in Te Whanganui-a-Tara

The image below is of Boulcott's Farm, where disagreements over the validity of land purchases by the New Zealand Company led to a series of skirmishes between Māori and government troops in the Wellington region in 1846.

Boulcott's Stockade in the Hutt Valley New Zealand, painted in 1846

Page, George Hyde, 1823-1908. Boulcott's Stockade in the Hutt Valley N. Z. 1846. Graves of soldiers 58th Reg. Ref: B-081-002. Alexander Turnbull Library /records/23012585

Read more about these events on NZHistory below, as well as the arrest of Te Rauparaha, and the attack on Battle Hill and Te Rangihaeata:

War in Wellington on NZHistory

Further resources:

Listen and watch — Other rauemi

History programmes, a podcast and more — listen and watch the resources below.

Listen to episodes 5 and 6 of RNZ's The Aotearoa History Show podcast series:

The Aotearoa History Show | Radio NZ

Waikato Māori had been steadfast allies of Pākehā but the hunger for land from influential colonists and the rise of Kingitanga encourages Governor George Grey to launch a massive invasion. The war is devastating for Māori but the fighting is not as one-sided as the British expect.

The Aotearoa History Show | Radio NZ

British troops are leaving Aotearoa but conflict between the government and so-called “rebel” Māori gets more intense as settler militia enter the fray. Some Māori chose to fight alongside the Crown while others become followers of new religious movements, which seem to promise a way out.

Watch excerpts from five-part television series The New Zealand Wars (1998) on NZ On Screen, presented by historian James Belich:

The New Zealand Wars (Television, 1998)