United Tribes of New Zealand

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The Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand, New Zealand's first flag, selected in 1834

The United Tribes of New Zealand was a loose confederation of Māori tribes based in the north of the North Island. The confederation was convened in 1834 by James Busby.

Busby was sent to New Zealand in 1833 by the Colonial Office to serve as the official British Resident, and was anxious to set up a framework for trade between Maori and Europeans, the Māori chiefs of northern part of the North Island agreed to meet with him in March of 1834. Discussions were initiated on the creation of a new federal state in New Zealand, and the United Tribes declared their new independence on 28 October of 1835^[1], when rumors began spreading that Baron Charles de Thierry, a French landowner, was going to set up an independent state at Hokianga in order to bring in the French. Busby's efforts were entirely too successful — as the islands settled down, the British began to consider an outright annexation. In 1840 the chiefs of the United Tribes convened at Waitangi to sign the Treaty of Waitangi.