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New Zealand land wars

New Zealand land wars
Memorial in the Auckland War Memorial Museum for those who died, both European and Māori, in the New Zealand Wars. "Kia mate toa" can be translated as "fight unto death" or "be strong in death", and is the motto of the Otago and Southland Regiment of the New Zealand Army. The flags are that of Gate Pā and the Union Flag.
Military Conflict
ConflictNew Zealand Land Wars
Date1845 � 72
LocationNew Zealand
ResultNew Zealand Settlements Act 1863; confiscation of four million acres (16,000 km2) of Māori land
UK British Empire
Māori
Māori
18,000 (peak deployment)
5,000 (peak deployment)

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The New Zealand Wars, sometimes called the Land Wars and also once called the Māori Wars, were a series of armed conflicts that took place in New Zealand between 1845 and 1872. The wars were fought over a number of issues, the most prominent concerning Māori land being sold to the settler population.

The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840, guaranteed that individual Māori iwi (tribes) should have undisturbed possession of their lands, forests, fisheries and other taonga (treasures) in return for becoming British subjects and selling land to the government only. The majority of Māori were keen to sign to consolidate peace and end the long inter-tribal Musket Wars 1807 � 1842.

All pre-treaty colonial land-sale deals had been completed directly between the two parties. In the early period of contact, Māori generally sought trade with Europeans.Mission stations were established, and missionaries receiving land for houses, schools, churches and farms.

Some traders acquired large tracts of landprior to 1840 and the British government was concerned to protect the Maori from exploitation. Following the 1840 Treaty of Waitaingi, the newly constituted British colonial authorities decreed that Māori could sell land only to the Crown (the Right of Preemption). Often, new settlers did not appreciate that Māori owned their land communally under the mana of a chief and that permission to settle on land did not always imply sale of that land. Settlers had little understanding of the widespread redistribution of land during the bitter musket wars. This meant that conquering chiefs were keen to profit from these newly acquired assets by selling them to settlers while the original, defeated owners, were bitterly against this. Sometimes the reverse happened, as in the Hutt Valley, where the conquered Rangitane sold their land to the New Zealand company, much to the anger of the great conqueror Te Rauaparaha. Under pressure from settlers, the colonial government tried to speed up land sales and permitted settlers to settle in areas where ownership was still disputed between Maori hapu. This included huge areas of the North Island that had been depopulated, and, in many cases, repopulated with new hapu and iwi, following the musket wars of 1805 � 1842.

Kingitanga Māori began resisting the purchase of their land by British settlers and started using violence against those Maori who wished to sell. The Kingitanga refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the crown. The crown honoured the treaty by protecting loyal Maori, who were British citizens, from attacks by rebels who were attempting to set up an alternative government. This action sowed the seeds of eventual war between loyal Maori, British and New Zealand governments versus the minority rebel Kingitanga.


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