Te Rauparaha

Maori rangatira

• Born: ca. 1760s
• Place of Birth: New Zealand
• Died: November 27, 1849
• Place of Death: Otaki, New Zealand

Maori rangatira

Background

Te Rauparaha was born sometime during the 1760s at or near Kawhia, a settlement on the coast of Kawhia Harbour in New Zealand’s North Island. He was the son of Werawera, of the Ngati Toa people, and Werawera’s second wife, Parekohatu, of the Ngati Raukawa. Both of his parents were descendants of the founding ancestors of their iwi (tribes). Te Rauparaha was named for an edible plant known as rauparaha; after a relative of his, possibly his father, was killed and eaten, the attacker pointed to the young Te Rauparaha and insinuated he would eat the child with rauparaha leaves. Te Rauparaha was thus given the name as a gesture of defiance.

Becoming a Leader

Throughout Te Rauparaha’s early life, both the Ngati Toa and the Ngati Raukawa were involved in fights with the northern Waikato tribes for control of the land north of Kawhia, and Te Rauparaha’s reputation as a warrior and tactician was made in these battles. He was given his first musket sometime between 1810 and 1815. Muskets would revolutionize the wars between Maori tribes, and the Musket Wars would continue into the 1840s.

When not fighting, Te Rauparaha traveled widely around the North Island and visited tribes with friendly relationships with Ngati Toa. At some point around this time, he was present at the death of a Ngati Raukawa rangatira (chief) named Hape-ki-tu-a-rangi, a relative of his through his mother. When the dying chief asked who would take his place, Te Rauparaha was the only one who answered. He thus inherited Hape’s position as rangatira of the Ngati Raukawa, in addition to already being a rangatira of the Ngati Toa. He also married Hape’s widow, Te Akau, making her his fifth wife. However, Te Rauparaha’s new position was largely symbolic; he remained with the Ngati Toa, and the other Ngati Raukawa chiefs would lead their tribe.

Migration South

In 1819, as the fighting with the Waikato was becoming increasingly costly, Te Rauparaha and his nephew Te Rangihaeata joined an excursion into the Taranaki region, possibly to search for a new home for the Ngati Toa. Along the way, the party carried out attacks on enemy tribes, who had not yet encountered muskets and were easily defeated. The party reached Cook Strait, at the southern extreme of the North Island, before turning back. Upon returning, Te Rauparaha began preparations to move the Ngati Toa south to Taranaki and the nearby Kapiti Island.

Shortly after, Te Rauparaha’s first wife, Marore, was killed during a visit to Waikato. Te Rauparaha killed a Waikato chief in retaliation, beginning a series of skirmishes that would last until 1822, making the Ngati Toa’s continued presence in Kawhia untenable. Accompanied by several other northern tribes, the Ngati Toa began the first stage of their migration south, known as Te Heke Tahutahuahi (the fire-lighting expedition), around 1820. A Waikato war party followed and attacked them at Motunui, in northern Taranaki, but the Ngati Toa were ultimately victorious.

The second stage of the migration, Te Heke Tataramoa (the bramble-bush expedition), would take the Ngati Toa south through Taranaki to Kapiti Island. The travelers faced adversity once again upon reaching Horowhenua, south of the Manuwatu River, when members of their party killed one of the Muaupoko people who lived there. A Muaupoko leader named Toheriri invited Te Rauparaha and his family to a feast, after which several Muaupoko tried to kill them in their sleep. Te Rauparaha escaped, but at least three of his children did not. In retaliation, he took over the Muaupoko pa (village or fortified settlement) and killed its inhabitants, then turned on the surrounding pas. While he did, another Ngati Toa chief defeated the Muaupoko who lived on Kapiti Island, and the tribe began to establish their new home there.

Expansion and Conquest

Once settled in the south, Te Rauparaha wanted to trade with Europeans for muskets and with South Island Maoris for pounamu (greenstone), a type of jade or bowenite. The South Island tribes controlled the pounamu trade, but they had not yet acquired muskets and other European weaponry. Around 1827 Te Rauparaha crossed Cook Strait and raided several Rangitane pas in Wairau. The following year, he led more than three hundred armed warriors in a successful attack on the Ngati Kuia pas in and around Pelorus Sound, then continued south to the Ngai Tahu pas of Kaikoura and Kaiapoi.

Te Rauparaha’s war party defeated the Ngai Tahu at Kaikoura, but when they reached Kaiapoi, the eight Ngati Toa chiefs who entered the pa to trade for pounamu were killed and eaten in retaliation for the earlier attack. In revenge, Te Rauparaha joined forces with Captain John Stewart of the British merchant vessel Elizabeth. In 1830 Stewart hid a group of Ngati Toa warriors in his ship and sailed into the port of Akaroa, then persuaded the Ngai Tahu chief to come aboard. The pa was destroyed, and the chief, his wife, and his daughter were captured.

European Relations

By the mid-1830s, the Ngati Toa had conquered the southwest of the North Island and the northern half of the South Island. During this period Te Rauparaha forged an active relationship with European colonists. In 1839, he negotiated the sale of land to Colonel William Wakefield in exchange for various goods, including guns and blankets. However, when Lieutenant Governor William Hobson arrived in 1840, he declared all land sales to be void pending further investigation. On May 14, 1840, Te Rauparaha signed the Treaty of Waitangi, believing that it would cement his claim on the land he had taken by conquest. This led to later conflicts when British authorities attempted to claim land that Te Rauparaha had not agreed to sell.

Following a particularly violent battle with a group of armed settlers in 1843, which ended with the surrender of the settlers and their subsequent execution by Te Rangihaeata in revenge for the death of his wife, Te Rauparaha did not press his victory, choosing instead to avoid further conflict with other settlers. This tactic paid off in early 1844, when Governor Robert FitzRoy declared that the settlers had started the conflict and that their deaths would not be pursued.

In 1846, however, when rumors began circulating of an imminent Maori attack on Wellington, FitzRoy was no longer in charge. His successor, Governor George Grey, arrested Te Rauparaha, believing that he posed a threat. For ten months he was held without charge before being exiled to Auckland. Finally, in 1848, the governor allowed him to return to Otaki on the Kapiti Coast. The imprisonment and humiliation had taken its toll, however, and Te Rauparaha died on November 27, 1849, in Otaki.

Impact

Te Rauparaha is famous for his aggressive defense of the Ngati Toa people, his leadership in battle, and his unprecedented expansion of Ngati Toa land via conquest. The Ngati Toa engaged in early musket trading, becoming a powerful and influential force in intertribal relations and playing a significant role in the Musket Wars. Te Rauparaha also helped shape Maori history during colonial times through his alliances with European authorities and his signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

In modern times, Te Rauparaha’s legacy is assured by the use of his haka (war dance), "Ka Mate," by New Zealand’s national rugby team, the All Blacks, who perform it before every game.

Bibliography

Buick, T. Lindsay. An Old New Zealander; or, Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South. London: Whitcombe, 1911. Print.

Collins, Heni. Ka Mate Ka Ora! The Spirit of Te Rauparaha. Wellington: Steele, 2010. Print.

Oliver, Steven. "Te Rauparaha." Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Crown, 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 June 2014.

Stack, James West. Kaiapohia: The Story of a Siege. Christchurch: Whitcombe, 1893. Print.

Tau, Te Maire, and Atholl Anderson, eds. Ngai Tahu: A Migration History. Wellington: Williams, 2008. Print.

"Te Rauparaha." New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 3 Feb. 2021, nzhistory.govt.nz/people/te-rauparaha. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.