The Treaty of Waitangi, sometimes referred to as Te Tiriti, is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the treatment of the Māori people in New Zealand by successive governments and the wider population, something that has been especially prominent from the late 20th century. The treaty document is an agreement, not a treaty as recognised in international law. It was first signed on 6 February 1840 by Captain William Hobson as consul for the British Crown and by Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand. The treaty's quasi-legal status satisfies the demands of biculturalism in contemporary New Zealand society. In general terms, it is interpreted today as having established a partnership between equals in a way the Crown likely did not intend it to in 1840. Specifically, the treaty is seen, first, as entitling Māori to enjoyment of land and of natural resources and, if that right were ever breached, to restitution. Second, the treaty's quasi-legal status has clouded the question of whether Māori had ceded sovereignty to the Crown in 1840, and if so, whether such sovereignty remains intact.
The Moriori are the first settlers of the Chatham Islands. Moriori are Polynesians who came from the New Zealand mainland around 1500 CE, which was close to the time of the shift from the archaic to the classic period of Polynesian Māori culture on the mainland. Oral tradition records migration to the Chathams in the 16th century. The settlers' culture diverged from mainland Māori, and they developed a distinct Moriori language, mythology, artistic expression and way of life. Currently there are around 700 people who identify as Moriori, most of whom no longer live on the Chatham Islands. During the late 19th century some prominent anthropologists proposed that Moriori were pre-Māori settlers of mainland New Zealand, and possibly Melanesian in origin; this hypothesis has been discredited by archaeologists since the early 20th century, but continued to be referred to by critics of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process into the 21st.
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. It is charged with investigating and making recommendations on claims brought by Māori relating to actions or omissions of the Crown, in the period largely since 1840, that breach the promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi. The Tribunal is not a court of law; therefore, the Tribunal's recommendations and findings are not binding on the Crown. They are sometimes not acted on, for instance in the foreshore and seabed dispute.
KīngiTāwhiao, known initially as Matutaera, reigned as the Māori King from 1860 until his death. After his flight to the King Country, Tāwhiao was also Paramount Chief of Te Rohe Pōtae for 17 years, until 1881. A rangatira, and a religious figure – a tohunga ariki – Tāwhiao amassed power and authority during a time of momentous change, to become de facto leader of the Waikato tribes. He was a member of the Ngati Mahuta hapū and the kāhui ariki, the Kīngitanga royal family.
Waitangi is a locality on the north side of the Waitangi River in the Bay of Islands, 60 kilometres north of Whangārei, on the North Island of New Zealand. It is close to the town of Paihia, to which it is connected by a bridge near the mouth of the Waitangi River estuary. While Statistics New Zealand and NZ Post consider the southern boundary of Waitangi to be the river and estuary, with the area further south being part of Paihia, the area by Te Tī Bay, immediately south of the river, is sometimes referred to as part of Waitangi.
Tikanga is a Māori term for Māori law, customary law, attitudes and principles, and also for the indigenous legal system which all iwi abided by prior to the colonisation of New Zealand. Te Aka Māori Dictionary defines it as "customary system of values and practices that have developed over time and are deeply embedded in the social context". More broadly since the decline of tikanga Māori as New Zealand's "first law" in favour of English law, tikanga has often been defined as a concept incorporating practices and values from mātauranga Māori, or Māori knowledge. Tikanga is translated into the English language with a wide range of meanings—culture, custom, ethic, etiquette, fashion, formality, lore, manner, meaning, mechanism, method, protocol, and style.
The King Country is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from Kawhia Harbour and the town of Ōtorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River in the south, and from the Hauhungaroa and Rangitoto Ranges in the east to near the Tasman Sea in the west. It comprises hill country, large parts of which are forested.
Ōrākei is a suburb of Auckland city, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on a peninsula five kilometres to the east of the city centre, on the shore of the Waitematā Harbour, which lies to the north, and Hobson Bay and Ōrākei Basin, two arms of the Waitematā, which lie to the west and south. To the east is the suburb of Mission Bay. Takaparawhau / Bastion Point is a coastal piece of land in Ōrākei. Between Takaparawhau and Paritai Drive is Ōkahu Bay and Reserve.
The Māori King movement, called the Kīngitanga in Māori, is a Māori movement that arose among some of the Māori iwi (tribes) of New Zealand in the central North Island in the 1850s, to establish a role similar in status to that of the monarchy of the United Kingdom as a way of halting the alienation of Māori land. The first Māori king, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, was crowned in 1858. The monarchy is non-hereditary in principle, although every monarch since Pōtatau Te Wherowhero has been a child of the previous monarch. The eighth monarch is Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō, who was elected and crowned in September 2024.
David Vernon Williams is a professor, and former deputy dean of the University of Auckland's Faculty of Law. He comes from the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand, and was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School.
Claims and settlements under the Treaty of Waitangi have been a significant feature of New Zealand politics since the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 and the Waitangi Tribunal that was established by that act to hear claims. Successive governments have increasingly provided formal legal and political opportunity for Māori to seek redress for what are seen as breaches by the Crown of guarantees set out in the Treaty of Waitangi. While it has resulted in putting to rest a number of significant longstanding grievances, the process has been subject to criticisms including those who believe that the redress is insufficient to compensate for Māori losses. The settlements are typically seen as part of a broader Māori Renaissance.
The Māori renaissance, as a turning point in New Zealand's history, describes a loosely defined period between 1970 and the early 2000s, in which Māori took the lead in turning around the decline of their culture and language that had been ongoing since the early days of European settlement. In doing so, social attitudes towards Māori among other New Zealanders also changed.
The Māori protest movement is a broad indigenous rights movement in New Zealand. While there was a range of conflicts between Māori and European immigrants prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the signing provided one reason for protesting. Disagreements in the decades following the signing sometimes included war.
Evan Paul Moon is a New Zealand historian and a professor at the Auckland University of Technology. He is a writer of New Zealand history and biography, specialising in Māori history, the Treaty of Waitangi and the early period of Crown rule.
The Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 or Children's and Young People's Well-being Act 1989 is an Act of the New Zealand Parliament that was passed in 1989. The Act's main purpose is to "promote the well-being of children, young persons, and their families and family groups." In June 2017, the New Zealand Parliament passed amendment legislation renaming the bill the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989.
Margaret Shirley Mutu is a Ngāti Kahu leader, author and academic from Karikari, New Zealand and works at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is Māori and her iwi (tribes) are Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Whātua.
Mana motuhake is a phrase in the Māori language that means self determination, with the principle being autonomy and control. It is sometimes translated to the concept of sovereignty.
Aroha Gaylene Harris is a Māori academic. As of 2020, Harris is an associate professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in Māori histories of policy and community development. She is also a member of the Waitangi Tribunal.
Vincent Michael O’Malley FRHistS is a New Zealand historian whose work focuses on the history of how relationships between Māori, European settlers (Pākehā) and colonial governments shapes the development of New Zealand as a nation. In his publications, and as a presenter and media commentator, O'Malley takes public positions on the teaching of history in New Zealand schools, the importance of understanding the impact of the New Zealand Wars, interractions between Māori agency and Crown responses during the colonisation of the country and the role of the Waitangi Tribunal. O'Malley has received multiple research grants, won several literary awards and is involved in a wide range of professional associations. He is Research Director at HistoryWorks, a company he co-founded in 2004.
Veronica Makere Hupane Tawhai is a New Zealand academic and an associate professor at Massey University.
