The Aotearoa History Show - Episode 4 | Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Summary

The script provides historical context about the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori chiefs, intended to establish British governance in New Zealand. It explores the rushed and flawed treaty process, mistranslations between English and Māori versions, and conflicting interpretations of sovereignty versus chieftainship. This set the stage for decades of conflict as the British imposed their authority, sparking wars with Māori who resisted colonization and loss of power. Though some Māori allied with the British, most saw the treaty as severely eroding rangatiratanga promised to them.

Takeaways

• 😳 The Treaty of Waitangi is an important founding document for NZ, but its wording and conflicting translations have led to conflict between Māori and Pākehā
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The Treaty was meant to establish a partnership between Māori Chiefs and the British Crown, but there were differences between the Māori and English versions
• 🔥 Land disputes stemming from dubious purchases and poor translation sparked the first conflicts between Māori and settlers in the 1840s
• ⚔️ The Northern War of 1845-46 saw Māori adopt trench warfare tactics that thwarted early British offensives
• 😠 Some Māori saw the growing British rule as exceeding what they'd agreed to in the Treaty
• 👫️ Māori were divided over whether to ally with or fight the British during the NZ Wars
• 🚫 The NZ Company made questionable land deals that later had to be overturned
• 🏙️ The capital was moved from Russell to Auckland and taxes imposed, disrupting life for northern Māori
• ⏳ Initially the British lacked the power to fully impose their will, but the tide shifted as more Europeans arrived
• 📈 European settlement accelerated in the 1850s, setting the stage for more clashes over sovereignty

Q & A

What was the purpose of the United Tribes of New Zealand?

The United Tribes of New Zealand was formed by Māori chiefs and missionaries to try to keep British subjects in New Zealand under control and block French colonization attempts.

Why did Māori sign the Treaty of Waitangi?

Some Māori signed the Treaty of Waitangi because they had already sold so much land that they had no way of controlling the Europeans living on it. They saw British rule as a way to regain control.

How did the Māori and English versions of the Treaty differ?

The Māori version promised Māori chiefs authority over their own people and land. The English version said they ceded sovereignty to the British Crown.

What factors led to the First Taranaki War in 1860?

The First Taranaki War broke out due to disputed land sales in the Taranaki region and Governor Browne's attempts to assert British sovereignty over the area.

How did Māori combat British artillery during the New Zealand Wars?

Māori developed trench warfare tactics including dugouts, bunkers and ambushes to evade British artillery.

Why did some Māori tribes ally with the British during the New Zealand Wars?

Some Māori allied with the British due to personal feuds with enemy tribes or because they felt they couldn't defeat the British in the long run.

What was the result of the Northern War?

The Northern War ended in a stalemate with a peace deal. Most British troops withdrew from Northland.

How did the Treaty of Waitangi set up conflict between Māori and the British?

The contradictory Māori and English versions of the Treaty led to differing expectations about British sovereignty versus Māori independence.

What happened to the Treaty of Waitangi documents after they were signed?

The Treaty documents were neglected, damaged by water and rats, and nearly destroyed in a fire before eventually being rediscovered years later.

Why couldn't Governor Hobson fully impose British rule after the Treaty was signed?

Initially, the British simply didn't have enough military, economic or political power in New Zealand to overcome determined Māori resistance.

Outlines

00:00

📜 Background on European Settlement and Maori Population Decline in NZ

Provides context on the state of New Zealand in the late 1830s - the European settlement was limited to about 200 people in Kororareka/Russell, while the Maori population had declined from 100,000 to 70-80,000 due to introduced diseases and war. Kororareka was lawless and infamous for drunkenness and prostitution, concerning both Maori and missionaries.

05:01

🚩 Busby and the United Tribes of NZ Try to Assert Control

James Busby, the British Resident, had little power so he worked with missionaries and Maori chiefs to form the United Tribes of NZ to declare independence and block French colonization attempts. This was only partially successful, leading the British to consider formal annexation.

10:02

💰 Wakefield and the NZ Company Had Their Own Colonization Plans

Edward Gibbon Wakefield created the New Zealand Company after getting out of prison, aiming to buy Maori land cheaply and sell it at a profit to rich colonists and poorer British laborers. This scheme was concerning to missionaries and indigenous rights advocates.

15:04

📜 The British Choose Annexation to Control Colonization

The British felt caught between uncontrolled private colonization or orderly, humanitarian annexation. They sent Hobson in 1840 to make a treaty with Maori for sovereignty transferal, with strict instructions not to trick or coerce them.

❌ The Treaty Signing Was Rushed and Confusing

Hobson hastily wrote the Treaty with help from Busby and missionaries. The translation into Maori for chiefs to understand was done overnight by Henry Williams. Many chiefs, including Hone Heke, questioned Hobson but eventually over 40 rangatira signed.

Keywords

💡Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand, signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori chiefs. It transferred sovereignty over New Zealand to Britain but also guaranteed Māori authority over their own land and resources. However, conflicting English and Māori versions led to different interpretations and lasting conflict.

💡British colonization

The video discusses the 19th century colonization of New Zealand by the British, driven by figures like Edward Gibbon Wakefield who wanted to establish colonies based on systematic British settlement and land purchase from Māori.

💡Land conflicts

With increasing British settlement, conflicts arose over land - its sale, ownership and use. Disputes over questionable land deals were a major spark for conflicts between Māori and settlers or government forces in the New Zealand Wars, the first being the Wairau Affray in 1843.

💡Sovereignty

A key dispute underlying the Treaty of Waitangi and subsequent conflicts was the question of sovereignty or governing authority over New Zealand. The English version ceded Māori sovereignty to Britain, while the Māori version guaranteed ongoing Māori authority and self-government under the treaty.

💡Translation issues

Mistranslations and differences between the Māori and English language versions of the Treaty of Waitangi were major sources of conflict. The English version was given higher legal standing despite translation inaccuracies and ambiguities.

💡Northern War

In 1845 the Northern War broke out between Ngapuhi chiefs like Hone Heke and Kawiti who resisted what they saw as excessive British encroachments on authority, versus British forces and their Māori allies like Tamati Waka Nene.

💡New Zealand Wars

This umbrella term refers to the series of 19th century armed conflicts between the colonial government and British forces on one side, and Māori on the other, sparked by disputes over land, sovereignty and breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

💡Trench warfare

During the New Zealand Wars Māori effectively used trench fortifications, artillery bunkers and guerilla tactics to counter the apparent advantages of British troops in weaponry and numbers, leading to stalemates and Māori victories.

💡Rangatira

Rangatira were Māori chiefs who led hapū (subtribes). Their support and signatures were crucial for the Treaty of Waitangi. Later conflicts often arose between rangatira on different sides - those resisting versus supporting British encroachments.

💡Kawanatanga

Kāwanatanga is the Māori translation used in the Treaty of Waitangi for the English word “governance”. The degree to which the treaty guaranteed kāwanatanga over New Zealand to Britain, versus recognizing ongoing Māori tino rangatiratanga, was a core issue leading to conflict.

Highlights

In 1833, missionaries and Māori leaders asked the British Crown to intervene in the lawless settlement at Kororāreka.

James Busby had the title of Official British Resident but little actual power over the European settlers.

The United Tribes of New Zealand declared independence in 1835 but it was mostly symbolic, to block French colonization plans.

Edward Gibbon Wakefield promoted a privately-run colonization scheme, despite opposition from missionaries and indigenous rights advocates.

The British felt pressure to annex New Zealand before the French, but were divided on the costs and benefits.

William Hobson rushed to translate and explain the Treaty of Waitangi to Māori in a single day before signing.

The Māori and English versions of the Treaty differed significantly on the sovereignty arrangements.

After signing, many North Island chiefs said they hadn't consented to give up authority over their land.

Disputed land purchases by settlers sparked the first battles between Māori and the British in 1843.

Hone Heke sparked war in 1845 by repeatedly cutting down the British flagstaff, seen as a symbol of imposed rule.

In battles Māori used sophisticated trench defenses to withstand British artillery.

The resulting stalemate showed Britain lacked the power to subjugate Māori militarily at that time.

But the growing number of settlers eventually shifted the balance of power.

Differences over the Treaty's meaning fueled the ensuing decades of New Zealand Wars.

Māori fought on both sides, some supporting and others resisting British sovereignty.

Transcripts

this piece of parchment is probably the

most important document in New Zealand's

history it's it's it a tea or Waitangi

our founding document and the reason it

looks a bit worse for wear as because

it's been neglected physically and

politically the treaty documents spent

decades buried in a pile of old papers

and rubbish under the old government

buildings in Wellington they were

damaged by water and gnawed by rats at

one point they were nearly lost in a

fire the treaty captures a spirit of

partnership in equality which is very

rare in the colonial era but its exact

wording helps it up a legacy of conflict

between Maori and Pakeha I'm Lee madam

Emig Rocklin and I'm William Ray welcome

to the LTA history show

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okay quick recap we're in the late 1830s

thanks to a combination of war and

introduced disease the Maori population

has dropped from about a hundred

thousand to around 70 or 80 thousand but

Maori still dominate New Zealand the

only major European settlement is a

quadratic ax also known as Russell

it's from to about 200 packing a ragtag

bunch of traders missionaries mutineers

and escaped convicts for a while

quartered Attica was the biggest whaling

port in the southern hemisphere and it

was a party town a place where sailors

could blow off steam after months at sea

prostitution and alcohol were big

business the missionaries were very

upset by all this immoral behavior one

described courted Erica as the scourge

of the Pacific which should be struck

down by the ravages of disease for its

depravity rangatira weren't super happy

with what was going on in curdled Attica

either they complained that European

traders abused them in refused to pay

fairly they were also accounts of

underage prostitution involving sailors

and Maori girls so in 1833 missionaries

in non-latino got together and asked the

British crown to send somebody to sort

this all out that somebody was James

Busby he had the grand title of official

British resident but not much actual

power he couldn't raise troops or

command warships so he had a tough time

doing anything Mauri used to make fun of

them by calling him a man of war without

guns

but eventually than Lotito Busby in the

missionaries came up with a plan first

they set up something called the united

tribes of new zealand which was a group

of Ngapuhi dan Lotito like Thomas he

woken II there were impartially

plus a couple of significant Chiefs from

through the south like the Waikato

donateed a potato a wittle wittle they

picked a flag in declared independence

the United tribes was partly an effort

to keep British subjects in New Zealand

under control but it was also part of a

wider power struggle in the Pacific okay

so there was this crazy wanna be free to

rusticate called Baron Charles Philippe

her polite de theory he rocked up to the

bay of islands declared himself king of

New Zealand and tried to set up a French

colony and hook

it was also another slightly more

serious French colony planned down south

or knocker or Britain's moved to

officially recognize the Independence of

the United tribes created a roadblock

for French colonization but it wasn't a

very big roadblock the British could

only see one way to completely stop the

French annexing all terror and accept

themselves first but they weren't all on

the same page a lot of people in the

British government thought colonizing

New Zealand might be more trouble than

it was worth by 1840 the British Empire

was already at war in Afghanistan and

China and facing rising tensions in

India and Crimea but there were some

British subjects who definitely did want

a slice of New Zealand including a guy

called Edward Gibbon Wakefield the story

of Wakefield's involvement in New

Zealand stats in prison which might tell

you something in 1926 a 30 year old

Wakefield was sentenced to three years

in jail after he abducted a

fifteen-year-old schoolgirl with plans

to marry her and get hold of her family

fortune but while he was locked up

Wakefield came up with an elaborate

scheme for a new kind of colony which he

thought would help ease social tensions

in England boost the British economy it

make Wakefield himself a super rich and

famous you know just the normal kind of

thing you think about when you're in

jail

Wakefield thought New Zealand was the

perfect place to test out his new

colonial system after he got out of

prison he and his brothers got together

with some finance years and see that the

New Zealand company the success of this

company hinged on a plan to buy land

cheaply from Maori sell it to rich

colonists at a much higher price then

reinvest the profits and subsidizing

tickets for poor British workers to sail

to New Zealand and become the laboring

class Wakefield solders colony as a

utopia where poor British workers could

escape the crime and poverty of the

industrial revolution of Britain he

described Wellington region as open and

relating planes perfect for growing

grapes olives and wheat not exactly an

accurate

but there was another faction in Britain

who had some serious concerns with this

plan

the missionaries in our Teodoro thought

Wakefield's colonization scheme would

inevitably lead to the quote conquest

and extermination of Maori they were

backed up by a group called the

Aborigines Protection Society which had

been founded a few years earlier to

protect the rights of indigenous people

all over the world the authorities in

London felt caught between two choices

either they allow uncontrolled

colonization by the likes of Wakefield

in the fridge or take control of New

Zealand and impose what they thought

would be a more orderly kind of

colonization they went with the second

option in January 1840 a British naval

officer called William Hobson arrived in

the Bay of Islands with orders to sign a

treaty with Maori transferring their

sovereignty to the British crown and

partly thanks to the efforts of the

Aborigines protection Society Hobson had

very strict instructions about how to

negotiate this treaty they meaning Maori

must not be permitted to enter into any

contracts in which they might be

ignorant and unintentional authors of

injuries to themselves

so basically Marty had to sign over

their sovereignty willingly they

couldn't be forced or tricked seems like

a good start but his wee things start to

go wrong Hobson had not actually written

this treaty by the time he got to New

Zealand so the document was cobbled

together in a few days by Hobson James

Busby in some of the missionaries then

it had to be translated and routed

lmarti so the Chiefs could understand it

this translation was done by the

missionary Henry Williams in a son

Edward in a single night in fact the

signing of totality was so rushed

Thomson didn't even have time to get

dressed into his fancy naval uniform

before he went to the signing ceremony

about 500 Maori arrived at Waitangi and

after the Chiefs had heard the Maori

version of the treaty read aloud

fourteen of them got up to give speeches

about what they just heard one of the

most pointed speeches came from a knight

sawaki dommatina called why will you

remedy the selling the exchanging the

cheating the lying the stealing of the

whites Oh

governor yesterday I was cursed by a

white man is that straight the white

gives us natives a pound for a pig but

he gives a white four pounds for such a

pig is that straight no no they will not

listen to you so go back another night

tarwacki rangatira called the river had

even more dire concerns do not sign the

paper if you do you will be reduced to

the condition of slaves and be compelled

to break stones on the road your land

will be taken from you and your dignity

as chief will be destroyed but some

Chiefs spoke in favor of the governor

one of the most famous being horny

Hickey some of you tell wholesome to go

but that's not going to solve our

difficulties we've already sold so much

land here in the north we have no way of

controlling the Europeans who have

settled on it I'm amazed to hear you

telling him to go eventually more than

48 on a tiara agreed to sign the treaty

including some of those who spoke

against it

Hobson shook each of their hands and

said hey you eat aji Tartu we're now one

people later several copies of the

treaty went on tours all over old Tarawa

they were signed by about five hundred

Maori leaders 13 of those signatures

came from Wahine all but one of the

documents they signed were Maori

language versions which is important

we'll explain why in just a second

Hobson scintillator back to the UK

saying the North Island had been ceded

to Britain with quote unanimous

adherence that wasn't true several North

Island and latina refused to sign the

treaty including leaders of made to hi

Ottawa natty to Elliott wah and Waikato

some weren't even asked Hobson also

annexed the South Island without knowing

if night ahoo Chiefs had signed the

treaty he said this was justified

because of the and again I quote

uncivilized to state of the natives so

yeah that alone makes the treaty

problematic as a founding document but

it had an even bigger huger more

enormous problem the Maori version of

totality of Waitangi did not say the

same thing as the English version the

Maori version promised the Chiefs Tino

rangatiratanga usually translated as

chiefly Authority or south

government the English version said

something different it said the Chiefs

ceded sovereignty to the crown

translated as Carwin atala the thing is

Carwin Otunga was a made-up word from

the English word governorship so it's

hard to know what either party intended

by committing to both Maori

rangatiratanga and British Caruana Tonga

here's how one Anita nor Peter Pan

Acharya summarized his understanding of

utility quota at Sarah would say win

where Alito IATI Queenie concertina now

she when were you iooking are Maori the

shadow of the land will go to the Queen

but the substance of the land will

remain with us Maori believed they would

stay in charge of the own land they

thought the governor's authority would

be limited to Parker her land and people

but a year after signing the treaty nor

Peter panic Arielle spoke to a

missionary outlining his frustration

that the governor was acting as if he

had complete authority over all Teodoro

now panic Arielle fears the substance of

it will go to the crown and the shadow

would be the Maori portion the problem

was in Henry Williams translation the

English version of the treaty did not

say that Marty were entering into a

power-sharing deal with rangatira it

said the crown was going to take

complete control of our tier or why did

this mistranslation happen that's a

tricky question on one hand it might

have been an honest mistake Williams and

his son did speak today on Maori but

they weren't expert translators plus

this translation was done in a huge rush

in the middle of the night so maybe it's

understandable they got some stuff wrong

on the other hand it might have been

deliberate Williams may have believed

the Treaty was the best way to protect

Maori from Parker colonists but also

Williams had a vested interest in

getting the treaty signed he bought a

lot of land from Maori and he needed

those purchases officially recognised by

the British government

according to modern international law

and dizziness translations of treaties

take precedence but back in the 1800s

the contradictory versions of TTT set up

some very big fight

between the British and Maori these

conflicts have had a lot of names over

the years originally they record the

Maori Wars then the land Wars these days

it's the New Zealand Wars the first

conflict was started by our old mates at

the New Zealand company by 1843 the New

Zealand company had established

settlements and Nelson Wellington and

from a Nui but they needed more farmland

to make those settlements

self-sustaining

luckily the company had bought extra

land in the Fertile wider Valley or at

least they thought they had they got the

deed to this land from the widow of a

sailing captain John blinken Saab who

had supposedly bought it from Mattie

tour in exchange for an obsolete cannon

that it was intention was merely to give

them rights to water em timber batli

construct a deed awarding himself the

whole valley dodgy land deals like this

were a big part of why Maui signed the

Treaty of Waitangi William Hobson had

promised to investigate land sales and

return any land which was held unjustly

but when the United to achieve did I put

her in today knee-high etre asked the

British to investigate nothing was done

so United's were burned down the hearts

of some New Zealand company surveyors

the company tried to have those two

dommatina arrested today knee-high

attainted Okada her tried to resolve

things peacefully but a gunfight broke

out and several people were killed

including one of two daily hiatus wives

terrible Pam Imam today any Hyatt had

demanded two for the killing of his wife

so all the New Zealand companies men

were executed one of the Parker killed

was Ed Wood Wakefield's brother Arthur

yeah these are actually his epaulets

here luckily this didn't kick off a

full-on war the new British governor

investigated determined the New Zealand

company had acted completely illegally

and urged both sides to stay peaceful

but just a few years later in 1845 we

see the first major war between Parker

her and Maori the northern war in the

five years following the signing of tttt

the British governors Hobson and Fitzroy

started to impose their ideas of

sovereignty

Hobson bought land

90 parts were at Tamaki and founded the

city of Auckland which he made the new

capital of New Zealand the infants were

brought in new taxes and regulations to

help fund his new government this was

all bad news for nappa he the taxes and

regulations cost them money in shifting

the capital away from Russell

significantly disrupted their ability to

trade one of the people most frustrated

was horny Hickey the first rangatira to

sign that treaty Singapore he leaders

like Hickey the British were going well

beyond the authority that been granted

in the Maori version of totality Hickey

and his powerful ally teruki coati

decided to push back first Hickey did

this sort of ceremonially by cutting

down the flag staff at the north end of

quarter attica he didn't just do this

once though he did it three times then

he and coati launched a raid on the town

which was probably mostly a distraction

so that Hickey could cut down the

Flagstaff one more time

but things got out of hand 11 people

died and it sparked the northern war key

key strategy however divided Ngapuhi in

lots of northern Maori fought on the

British side under the leadership of

tamati waka Nene

you see Maori allied themselves with the

British all through the New Zealand Wars

and they do this for lots of different

reasons sometimes it's personal

for example Thomas iwakuni niece or

horny Hickey was a cheeky young upstart

who should show more respect to his

elders and in other cases it's

opportunistic

Samnang at sea they allied with the

British to settle old scores with rivals

but they were also genuine disagreements

about whether fighting the British was a

good idea merely down let's see they

felt this was a war they couldn't hope

to win in the long run so in the

northern war it's only hiccup to Ruki

coati and their allies versus the

British party walkin in it and his

allies the British were expecting this

to be a quick and easy campaign they had

known in the guns lots of artillery but

all their artillery turned out to be not

as big a deal as hoped

that's because Maori had invented a

trench warfare Modi had already got

pretty good at building fortifications

to defend against gunfire during the

musket

they built flat screens wound walls and

ditches to block musket balls

slow down enemy charges and give their

warriors better positions to shoot from

and in the northern war horny Hickey and

coyote doubled down at all higher why

into a picker picker they attack anti

artillery bunkers deep pits in the

ground covered with thick logs in truth

these kind of Defense's were used

throughout the New Zealand Wars often

you see the British charging these paths

assuming the defenders had been blown to

bits only to be gunned down by the

defenders Maori also used ambushes and

guerrilla warfare to outmaneuver the

British forces

thanks to tactics like these the

northern war ended in a stalemate with a

peace deal and most British troops

withdrew from Northland the British and

didn't have the military economic or

political power to impose their will on

Marty at least not yet

Europeans are restricted to a few small

settlements but thanks to the New

Zealand company Altera's parkia

population grew higher and higher by

1858 Europeans would outnumber Maori in

al Tarawa and that would kick off the

next face of the New Zealand Wars

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