The Musket Wars
Tens of thousands of Maori died in the intertribal Musket Wars of the 1810s, 1820s and 1830s. Thousands more were enslaved or became refugees. Led by the northern rivalries between Ngapuhi and Ngati Whatua, all of the tribes were soon trading to obtain muskets.
Muskets (ngutu parera) changed the face of intertribal warfare, decimating the population of some tribes and drastically shifting the boundaries of areas that others controlled. By the 1830s campaigns were too costly. With European diseases also taking a heavy toll, warfare gave way to economic rivalry.
By this time thousands of Maori had fled their traditional lands, freeing large areas for Pakeha (European) settlement and complicating questions of ownership.
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