| Reign | June 1858 – June 25, 1860 |
| Coronation | 1858 |
| Spouses | Whakaawi, Raharaha, Waiata, Ngawaero |
| Successor | Matutaera Tawhiao |
| Father | Te Rauangaanga |
| Mother | Parengaope |
| Born | c. 1770 – 1800 |
| Died | June 25, 1860 |
Pōtatau I, Māori King (Pōtatau Te Wherowhero) (circa 1800 – June 25, 1860) was a Māori warrior, leader of the Waikato tribes, the first Māori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known as simply Te Wherowhero and took the name Pōtatau after he became king. As disputes over land grew more severe Te Wherowhero found himself increasingly at odds with the Government and its policies.[1]
Contents |
When Pōtatau was born his father, Te Rauangaanga of Ngāti Mahuta, had just become the principal war chief of the Waikato tribes. As leader of the Waikato forces he defeated a much larger Taranaki and coastal Tainui force of about 7000 warriors in the Battle of Hingakaka fought about 1780 near Ohaupo. His mother, Te Parengaope, was a high chieftainess of the Ngāti Koura people. Pōtatau was thus, the descendant of the captains of both the Tainui and Te Arawa waka (canoes) which are said to have brought the Māori to New Zealand. Pōtatau grew up in a period of relative peace for the Waikato iwi, but he became heavily involved in the on-going conflict with Ngāti Toa under Te Rauparaha
Having descended from Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto chiefs who had claims of glory such as his father, Te Rauangaonga, Pōtatau himself became a revered battle leader against the Ngāti Toa at Kawhia and Ngāti Awa in Taranaki.
After enduring attacks from the musket-bearing Ngāpuhi, led by Hongi Hika, the Waikato tribes were pushed south. This led to a series of skirmishes between the Waikato and Ngāti Toa.
In 1821 Te Wherowhero led a force of Waikato-Maniapoto of 3,000 against Ngāti Toa positions. Te Wherowhero received a further 1,500 from allies Whaingaroa (Raglan). This joint force succeeded in capturing a series of Ngāti Toa strongholds.
Early in 1822 the Waikato forces suffered a heavy defeat and Pōtatau was almost killed when he refused to retreat and abandon the body of a slain chieftain. The intervention of Te Rauparaha saved him, but subsequently he had to engage a number of enemy chiefs in single combat. Eventually his own people returned and a negotiated truce ensued. Pōtatau returned to the Waikato in time to take command in an unsuccessful defence of his tribe at Matakitaki (1822) against Ngāpuhi, armed with muskets and led by Hongi Hika on their great rampage through the North Island of 1818 to 1823. Eventually Ngapuhi withdrew and the Waikato could re-establish themselves on their tribal land. By the time Ngapuhi re-appeared in the area some ten years later the Waikato had also acquired muskets and could therefore defend themselves successfully.
Te Wherowhero continued and systematically weakened the Ngāti Toa. When Ngāti Toa left Kawhia and began their long migration to Taranaki. Te Wherowhero pursued and, although never forced to retreat, incurred large costs in human life in sieges which were sometimes unsuccessful. By 1834 Te Wherowhero made peace, this occurred at a time when missionaries were having a greater impact upon iwi in the Waikato. Te Wherowhero himself regularly attended services.
Waikato's (or more specifically Ngāti Maniapoto's) involvement in the Taranaki war against the Government forces in the 1860s can be traced back to Te Wherowhero's long series of attacks against the Taranaki iwi Te Atiawa.[2] Te Wherowhero at one stage claimed the Te Atiawa's were slaves who lived there only on his sufferance but he was prepared to end all interest in the land when he was paid 250 pounds.[3] Keenan argues that Te Wherowhero never occupied Te Atiawa's land long enough to constitute possession according to Māori customary lore. Nor did Te Atiawa ever entirely abandon their land thereby maintaining their occupation rights. During the latter stages of the war in Taranaki it was the involvement of Waikato warriors in bringing food and war materials (lead and powder) that enabled the Taranaki warriors to keep fighting in the infertile, wet and inhospitable uplands.[4]
Although Te Wherowhero refused to sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi when asked to he was not opposed to pākehā presence in areas he controlled. Initially Pōtatau favoured the pākehā arrivals in his territory: his daughter, Tiria, married a trader.
Te Wherowhero supported the colonial government. In 1849 he signed an agreement with the governor, George Grey to provide Auckland with military protection should it become necessary after the violent uprising of Māori under Hone Heke and Kawiti. Grey had learnt the importance of having the support of Kūpapa, Māori who sided with the Crown - during that campaign to restore law and order and assert government authority.
In 1844 he hosted a large inter tribal gathering at Remuera. He built a house on the site of today's Auckland Domain and it witnessed many discussions and negotiations concerning the implementation of the Treaty.
Although he never ceded sovereignty to the British Crown, he did have good rapport with early New Zealand governors, especially George Grey who had a cottage built for him in Mangere. In this cottage Grey consulted Te Wherowhero regarding Māori affairs.
The Waikato tribes sold land initially, Te Wherowhero sold some tribal land around Manukau. However in 1846 he protested vehemently about an edict which claimed land not actually occupied and cultivated by Māori as Crown property.
As more settlers came to New Zealand and the colonial government passed such legislation Te Wherowhero, from the early 1850s, became less friendly to the Pākehā. This was at least partially due to the nature of these arrivals in the Waikato lands. These new arrivals often encroached on Māori tribal lands with no formal jurisdiction or consensual purchasing or gifting of the land.
Te Wherowhero did not live to see the problems precipitated by these land disputes and the polarised opinions that they caused. Three years later his people faced the Invasion of the Waikato which saw goodwill destroyed because of the confiscation of some of the Waikato's most fertile land.
In the early 1850s, a movement to establish a Māori King developed. This aimed to unite the Māori people and to act as a counterbalance to Queen Victoria. But above all the King Movement wanted to halt the sale and alienation of Māori land by the Pākehā Government.
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero was selected as King by a meeting of chiefs of the Māori tribes held at Pūkawa on the south-eastern shore of Lake Taupo in 1857. Pōtatau, in his old age, expressed initial reluctance but accepted at the wish of his own tribe Ngāti Maniapoto. He was 'erected'sic[5] as king at Pūkawa in 1857 and installed as king during elaborate ceremonies held at his marae in Ngaruawahia in 1858.
Pōtatau himself wished to continue to work in co-operation with the British Government, but many of his followers adopted a much more independent position. Gradually the two sides polarised and grew apart, culminating some five years later in warfare (see Invasion of the Waikato and New Zealand Land Wars)
Pōtatau died in Ngaruawahia on June 25, 1860. He is buried on Mount Taupiri, a mountain close to his royal residence in Ngaruawahia. His son, Matutaera Tawhiao, succeeded him.
| Māori Monarchy | ||
|---|---|---|
| New title | Māori King 1858 – 1860 |
Succeeded by Tāwhiao |
|
|||||||