Ngāti Whātua

Ngāti Whātua
Iwi of New Zealand
Rohe (location)	Northland and Auckland
Waka (canoe)	Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi
Website	http://www.ngatiwhatua.iwi.nz

Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand. It is a confederation of hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time. The four hapū are Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taoū, and Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei.

Ngāti Whātua's territory or rohe is traditionally expressed as: Tāmaki ki Maunganui i te Tai Hauauru and Tāmaki ki Manaia i te Rawhiti. The northern boundary is expressed as: Manaia titiro ki Whatitiri, Whatitiri titiro ki Tutamoe, Tutamoe titiro ki Maunganui. The southern boundary is expressed as: Te awa o Tāmaki. The area runs from Tāmaki River in the south, to Maunganui Bluff (at the northern end of Aranga Beach on the west coast) in the north, and to Whangarei Harbour on the east coast.

By the time of European settlement in New Zealand, Ngāti Whātua's territory was around the Kaipara Harbour and stretching south to Tāmaki Makaurau, the site of present-day Auckland. In earlier centuries, the iwi had migrated from further north on the Northland Peninsula.

Rivalry with Ngāpuhi escalated in the early 19th century when Ngāpuhi acquired muskets. They attacked Ngāti Whātua in 1807 or 1808 in the battle of Moremonui, probably the first use of firearms in Māori warfare. Ngāti Whātua overcame the Ngāpuhi warriors with hand weapons while Ngapuhi were reloading their muskets, winning a decisive victory over the attackers. Ngāpuhi, led by Hongi Hika, exacted revenge in 1825 when they defeated Ngāti Whātua in the battle of Te Ika a Ranganui.

Wishing to attract European settlement in their area, and in hopes of avoiding future requisition by unsatisfied officials, Ngāti Whātua offered land at Tāmaki Makaurau to Governor William Hobson in 1840. Hobson took up the offer and moved the capital of New Zealand to Tāmaki Makaurau, naming the settlement Auckland.

Ngāti Whātua came to national prominence in the 1970s in a dispute over vacant land at Bastion Point, a little way east of the Auckland city centre, adjoining the suburb of Orakei. The land, which had been acquired cheaply for public works many decades before, was largely returned to the tribe after a long occupation and pasive resistance.^[1][2]

References

External links

• Waitangi Tribunal - Orakei Resource Kit
• Ngāti Whātua on Te Ara