New Zealand Wars

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, selling land to the government only and surrendering sovereignty to the British Government. Historians have debated whether this last point was fully understood by chiefs due to the possible mistranslation of the word "sovereignty" in the treaty copies. The majority of Māori were keen to sign to consolidate peace and end the long inter-tribal Musket Wars 1807–1842. They were also very keen to acquire the technological culture of the British.

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

Some traders acquired large tracts of land prior to 1840 and the British government was concerned to protect the Māori from exploitation. Following the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, 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 Rauparaha. 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 Māori hapū. This included huge areas of the North Island that had been depopulated, and, in many cases, repopulated with new hapū and iwi, following the Musket Wars of 1805 – 1842.

The Māori King Movement (also known as the Kingitanga Movement) began resisting the purchase of their land by British settlers, in some cases resulting in violence. These disputes sowed the seeds of eventual war between Kingitanga Māori, with their supporters, and the British and New Zealand governments, with the support of allied Māori.