This section examines the collective and individual campaigns waged against Māori between 1843 and 1916.
The Wairau confrontation In 1843, forty-nine armed settlers from Nelson travelled east across to Wairau and attempted to enforce a disputed sale against local Maori. The local Maori were from the Ngāti Toa tribe. They were led by Te Rauparaha, and his fighting chief...
The Northern Wars 11 March 1845 Hone Heke Pokai and allies attacked the township of Kororareka, New Zealand's first capital, burning it to the ground. Heke then retreated inland, pursued by the Brtish Army. 8 May 1845 The British Army caught up with Hone Heke...
16 May 1846 In 1846, Governor George Grey ordered the British Army to Wellington to act as deterrent in the wake of ongoing land disputes between new settlers and Ngāti Toa. 16 May 1846 a Ngāti Toa war party attacked Boulcott's Farm in Lower Hutt, where a contingent...
Whanganui - a town of two stockades 19 May 1847 The British Army were stationed in Whanganui to protect settler communities against Māori from upriver who were suspected of having hostile intentions towards Pākehā. Land disputes and contested purchases aggrieved...
North Taranaki, where New Zealand's 'war of sovereignty' began War broke out in North Taranaki in March 1860. The issue over which the war commenced was a block of land, called the Pekapeka Block, now for the most part covered by the township of Waitara in North...
Where King Tawhiao carried a 'terrible burden' for all Māori New Zealand's Land Wars were lost by Māori in the Waikato, in 1863. Here is an extract from an essay Danny Keenan published in 2001, arguing that, for Māori, the critical battle was fought at...
29 April 1864 The Battle of Gate Pā. The war in Tauranga quickly followed the end of war in the Waikato and invloved many Māori returning to the Bay of Plenty after fighting alongside Waikato. Gate Pā stood on a high hill and was attacked by the British Army in an...
This area, South Taranaki especially, remained on an uneasy war-footing after 1860 after members of Ngāti Ruanui travelled north to support Te Ātiawa during the Waitara war. Ngāti Ruanui had returned south after the war and, unhappy at what had happened at Waitara,...
East Coast War 1868-1872 Te Kooti of Rongowhakaata escaped from imprisonment on the Chatham Islands and with adherents was pursued across the breadth of the North Island. A very long and complex war involving multiple alliances of Crown, settlers and Maori pitted...
Parihaka and the New Zealand Wars Parihaka is a coastal village situated near Pungarehu in central coastal Taranaki. These days, Parihaka is a vibrant place with many families having returned to live on site. Hui (gatherings) are also frequent,...
The 'Dog Tax War' 1899 Rawene is a small town situated on the northern shores of the Hokianga Harbour in Northland. In 1899, Māori living at Rawene, Waima and Taheke took strong objection to the levying of dog taxes on Māori by the Hokianga County Council. Māori were...
'The Last Shots Fired in the New Zealand Wars' Maungapohatu is a small village situated deep in the Urewera National Park, customary home of the Tuhoe people. The Urewera region, which is very isolated and covered with dense bush, was the last area of New...