Wars without End

This section provides some commentary on the thesis that land was the issue which gave rise to the New Zealand Wars. These were ‘Wars Without End’ because, once the fighting was over, the ‘wars’ merely shifted into the courts and political arena, with the issues that gave rise to war not resolved.

WARS WITHOUT END

The New Zealand Wars, say most historians, ended in 1872. Militarily speaking, this makes sense because the last shots were fired on 14 February 1872 at Mangaone, on the East Coast of the North Island. But for Māori, the wars never ended, with the conflicts over land...