What’s this site about ?

This website reflects five ideas which underlie and unify the writing on these pages;

Photo from the movie The River Queen (2005).

1  Encounter; Māori/State relations in New Zealand in the nineteenth century, of which the New Zealand Wars were of course the ‘leading edge’ – see (for example) # Maori/State Politics.

2 Recounting; Māori and New Zealand histories, and historiography – how these records of encounter have been approached by historians  – see # NZ Wars Historiography.

The Waitangi Tribunal, established to hear claims from Māori for redress, against the Crown for past actions deemed to be detrimental.

3 Redress; judicial forums and the claims process, especially thrū the Waitangi Tribunal, how these histories of conflicted encounter have been presented within judicial forums, and with what results – see # Waitangi Tribunal/Wars Claims.

4  Remembering; the wars battle sites and the  remembering process / or the memorializing of our histories; and the growth of ‘battlefield tourism’ – # Preserving our Sites. 

Native American horsemen, USA.

5 Going Global; further afield, Global Native Wars, the waging of war against native peoples (incorporating the themes above) providing a global context for our wars fought in New Zealand – see # Global Native Historians.

These five research areas are individually developed elsewhere on this site, thō more will be written here in the next short while, integrating these respective research areas.