Ngāi Tūhoe in the context of "Bay of Plenty Region"

The Māori King movement, called the Kīngitanga in Māori, is a Māori movement that arose among some of the Māori iwi (tribes) of New Zealand in the central North Island in the 1850s, to establish a role similar in status to that of the monarchy of the United Kingdom as a way of halting the alienation of Māori land. The first Māori king, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, was crowned in 1858. The monarchy is non-hereditary in principle, although every monarch since Pōtatau Te Wherowhero has been a child of the previous monarch. The eighth monarch is Nga wai hono i te po, who was elected and crowned in September 2024.

The Māori monarch operates in a non-constitutional capacity outside the New Zealand government, without explicit legal or judicial power. Reigning monarchs retain the position of paramount chief of several iwi, and wield some power over these, especially within Tainui. The influence of the Māori monarch is widespread in Māoridom despite the movement not being adhered to by several major iwi, notably Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, and the largest of all, Ngāpuhi. The headquarters for the King movement is Tūrangawaewae Marae in the town of Ngāruawāhia.

Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, located inland between the Bay of Plenty and Hawke Bay. Te Urewera is the rohe (historical home) of Tūhoe, a Māori iwi (tribe) known for its stance on Māori sovereignty.

In 1954, a large area of Te Urewera was designated Te Urewera National Park by the New Zealand Government. In 2014 after a Waitangi Tribunal settlement with Tūhoe, the national park was disestablished and the former area was given environmental personhood. This area is now managed by Te Urewera Board, a body composed of both members who represent Tūhoe and the New Zealand Government.

Rua Kēnana Hepetipa (1869 – 20 February 1937) was a Tūhoe prophet, faith healer and land rights activist. He called himself Te Mīhaia Hou, the New Messiah, and claimed to be Te Kooti Arikirangi's successor Hepetipa (Hephzibah) who would reclaim Tūhoe land that had been lost to Pākehā ownership. Rua's beliefs split the Ringatū Church, which Te Kooti had founded in around 1866/1868. In 1907 Rua formed a non-violent religious community at Maungapōhatu, the sacred mountain of Ngāi Tūhoe, in the Urewera. By 1900, Maungapōhatu was one of the few areas that had not been investigated by the Native Land Court. The community, also known as New Jerusalem, included a farming co-operative and a savings bank. Many Pākehā believed the community was subversive and saw Rua as a disruptive influence.

In 1916 police mounted an armed expedition, arriving at Maungapōhatu on 2 April to arrest Rua for sedition. He was found not guilty on this charge but imprisoned for resisting arrest. Rua was released in April 1918 and returned to Maungapōhatu, the community was however in decline and by the early 1930s, most people had left to find work elsewhere. Rua moved on to Matahī in the eastern Bay of Plenty and lived there until his death in 1937.