kingitanga

Maori leadership in the 19th century

Related features in NZHistory.net.nz

• The origins of the Maori King movement
• The Maori King movement 1860–1894
• Pai Marire 

Topics include:

• the origins of the King movement
• the search for a King
• the land issue
• troubled times: the build up to war
• the invasion of the Waikato
• maintaining the Kingitanga
• Pai Marire
• the death of Carl Völkner
• war on the Whanganui.

The 19th century was a period of great change for Maori. Traditional forms of leadership and politics were placed under immense pressure. New leaders and styles of leadership emerged in the face of European colonisation. Attempts to create pan-tribal movements were met with resistance by some iwi as well as by Europeans.

First regular airmail services take off

The three flags depicted by W.F. Gordon on the left are those used by the King Movement to mark the appointment of Potatau Te Wherowhero as the first Maori King in 1857. Gordon drew the flags when they were flown at Mataitawa, Taranaki on the anniversary of Potatau's accession in 1862.

The two flags depicted on the right are believed to have been used by supporters of the Pai Marire faith in the 1860s.

NZ’s longest running TV show debuts

Carte de visite portrait of Tukaroto Matutaera Potatau Te Wherowhero Tawhiao, the second Maori King, taken, probably in the 1880s.

In the 1850s, a movement was set up to appoint a Māori king who would unite the tribes, protect land from further sales and make laws for Māori to follow. Te Wherowhero became the first Māori king in 1858.