| Te Arikinui of The Kīngitanga | |
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| Monarchy | |
| Incumbent: Tuheitia Paki |
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| Style: | His Highness |
| Heir apparent: | None, elective. |
| First monarch: | Pōtatau Te Wherowhero |
| Formation: | 1858 |
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The Māori King Movement or Kīngitanga is a movement that arose among some of the Māori tribes of New Zealand in the central North Island in the 1850s, to establish a role similar in status to that of the monarch of the colonising people, the British, as a way of halting the alienation of Māori land.[1] Today, the Māori monarch is a non-constitutional role with no legal power.
The position of Māori monarch was constituted in 1858 by chiefs (rangatira) from many tribes, predominantly in the central North Island.[1] Since the 1850s the role has been vested in the Tainui tribe (iwi) who pledged through the first Māori king, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, to guard the position.[2] The current Māori monarch, Tuheitia Paki was elected in 2006.[3] His official residence is Tūrongo House at Tūrangawaewae marae in the town of Ngaruawahia.
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In the early 1850s, a movement to establish a Māori king developed in response to the selling of Māori land to the Colonial government. Selling was frequently an act that challenged the status quo of political power within iwi. The movement was instigated by Tamihana Te Rauparaha (son of Te Rauparaha) after having met Queen Victoria in the United Kingdom in 1852. It was believed that by having a monarch who could claim status similar to that of Queen Victoria, Māori would be able to deal with Pākehā (Europeans) on equal footing. The establishment of the monarchy was also designed to achieve unity among iwi of all regions of the islands and thus weaken the potential on the part of the British to "divide and rule"; and, in addition, it was seen as a step towards establishing Maori lore and order. However a large number of powerful iwi chose to align themselves with the crown, such as Te Arawa, and others such as Nga Puhi took no interest, or were not invited, such as Ngai Tapu, due to the history of inter iwi hostilities during the musket wars.
Te Rauparaha's cousin, Matene Te Whiwhi of the Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toa iwi, attempted unsuccessfully to persuade nine chiefs from various iwi to put themselves forward for the position. The elderly chief Pōtatau Te Wherowhero also expressed his reluctance, but was persuaded to accept the mantle of king at the wish of his own tribe Ngati Mahuta. Te Wherowhero was formally selected as king by a meeting of chiefs of the Māori tribes held at Pūkawa, Lake Taupo, in April 1857 and was crowned during elaborate ceremonies held at his marae in Ngāruawāhia in 1858. He became known as Pōtatau te Wherowhero or simply Pōtatau.
The rebel King Movement had some influence over about a quarter of New Zealand’s North Island—in particular, the lands of the Ngati Tuwharetoa, Taranaki, Whanganui and Tainui iwi that were involved in the movement’s establishment but even in its Waikato heart land many christian Maori sided with the government when conflict broke out.
After the end of the First Taranki war which saw a defeat for the Ngati Maniapoto rebel Kingites in 1861, the British government under Governor Thomas Gore-Browne began making arrangements to attack the Kingites in Waikato to assert British authority over the interior of the North Island.
Pōtatau who at this time lived at Mangere near Auckland, wished to continue to work in co-operation with the British Government, but many of his followers adopted an opposing position. The issue came to a head when kingites in Taranaki attacked a British military patrol escorting a soldier for trial were ambushed. Warned by the governor that setting up an alternative system of government would be viewed as rebellion, kingities armed themselves in prepartion for attacks in Auckland. Kingities set up a self declared boundary at Mangatawhiri stream . This culminated in warfare in the Waikato region in 1863-64, by which time Pōtatau had died (in 1860) and been succeeded by his son, Matutaera Tāwhiao, or King Tāwhiao.
In light of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, King Tāwhiao travelled to England to petition Queen Victoria in 1884 for an independent Māori parliament and an independent inquiry into land confiscations. His request to meet with the Queen was rejected and he was instead introduced to Lord Derby at the Colonial Office. He referred the petition to the New Zealand Government on the grounds that the Imperial government no longer had responsibility for such matters, but the New Zealand government dismissed it. All subsequent petitions taken to Britain were referred back to the New Zealand Government on the same grounds.[4]
During World War I kingite aligned iwi refused to serve in the New Zealand army. The Maori pioneer corps which fought at Gallipoli and the Western Front were volunteers from loyal or kupapa tribes such as Arawa.[5][6][7]
The position of Māori monarch is not hereditary in principle. The monarch is appointed by the leaders of the tribes involved in the Kīngitanga movement on the day of the previous monarch’s funeral and before the burial.[8] To date, however, all Māori monarchs have been direct descendants of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the first Māori king, and each monarch has been succeeded by a son or daughter. With each successive monarch, the role of Pōtatau's family has been entrenched, although after any reign ends there is the potential for the mantle to be passed to someone from another family or tribe if the chiefs of the various tribes are in agreement. Thus far, though, the monarchy has been hereditary in effect.
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