Historiography
Historian James Belich has suggested "Potato Wars" as a more accurate name for these battles, due to the revolution the potato brought to the Māori economy. Historian Angela Ballara says that new foods made some aspects of the wars different. Māori adopted potatoes which were introduced in 1769, and they became a key staple with better food-value for weight than kūmara (sweet potato), and easier cultivation and storage. Unlike the kūmara, potatoes were tillable by slaves and women and this freed up men to go to war. Belich saw this as a logistical revolution; potatoes effectively fuelled the long range taua that made the Musket Wars different from any fighting that had come before. However it has been pointed out by Ballara that, in many respects, it was a continuation of traditional inter-iwi feuding that had produced such massive slaughter as the Battle of Hingakaka in either the late 18th or early 19th century near Ohaupo, when about 8,000 warriors were killed by traditional weapons. Slaves captured during massive musket war raids were put to work tending potato patches, freeing up labour to create even larger taua. This can be seen in the progressive size of the war parties, starting at around one hundred and reaching one to two thousand within a few years. After 1832 the average size of the taua declined, until by 1836 they were as small as 120-200. The missionaries at Tauranga in 1839 recorded that 170 Ngati Haua warriors in five waka went to attack Maungatapu Pa.(Crosby P 338) Additionally, the duration of the raids were longer by the 1820s; it was common for men to be away for up to a year. Because potatoes are not as sensitive to temperature in the "winterless" north as kūmara, it was easy to grow a series of crops. Also American sailors had reintroduced the much larger fist-sized, American sweet potato, which quickly replaced the thumb-sized Māori kūmara. The availability of the potato and its ease of growing in a wide variety of climatic and soil conditions may have led to a rise in population, putting increasing pressure on a traditional Māori tribal structure that was geared towards a very tiny increase in population, i.e., far more healthy vigorous young men in the pā to challenge for positions of leadership.
Historian Angela Ballara presents evidence that the wars simply continued the traditional conflicts between and within the many hapū of New Zealand waged from about the mid 18th century. Ballara, in Taua, says the musket wars were fought for essentially the same reasons as pre-musket wars—mainly to do with mana, tapu and utu, only the weapons changed. Even at the end of the period in the mid 1840s Māori essentially followed the same tikanga or cultural war traditions as in the pre-musket 1700s. Both the earlier 1700 wars and the musket wars show that it was possible for various hapū to combine into a much larger taua under one or more leader for very long lengths of time—over a year, without regard to planting seasons or food supply for those left behind. Ballara commented that missionaries observed that in the north the warriors would leave the old and the young at home with very inadequate food—they had to forage for food as best as they could. As they had traditionally done, the warriors could expect to obtain food, weapons and other supplies from those defeated in attacks. The only new resource they sought in the musket wars were male slaves, rather than the traditional quest for female or child slaves as in earlier times.
Read more about this topic: Musket Wars