Rangatira in the context of "King Tawhiao"

The Treaty of Waitangi (Māori: Te Tiriti o Waitangi), sometimes referred to as Te Tiriti (lit. 'The Treaty'), is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the treatment of the Māori people in New Zealand by successive governments and the wider population, something that has been especially prominent from the late 20th century. Although the Treaty of Waitangi is not incorporated as a binding international treaty within New Zealand's domestic law, its status at international law is debated. It was first signed on 6 February 1840 by Captain William Hobson as consul for the British Crown and by Māori chiefs (rangatira) from the North Island of New Zealand. The treaty's status has clouded the question of whether Māori had ceded sovereignty to the Crown in 1840, and if so, whether such sovereignty remains intact.

The treaty was written at a time when the New Zealand Company, acting on behalf of large numbers of settlers and would-be settlers, was establishing a colony in New Zealand, and when some Māori leaders had petitioned the British for protection against French ambitions. Once it had been written and translated, it was first signed by Northern Māori leaders at Waitangi. Copies were subsequently taken around New Zealand and over the following months many other chiefs signed. Around 530 to 540 Māori, at least 13 of them women, signed the Māori language version of the Treaty of Waitangi, despite some Māori leaders cautioning against it. Only 39 signed the English version. An immediate result of the treaty was that Queen Victoria's government gained the sole right to purchase land. In total there are nine signed copies of the Treaty of Waitangi, including the sheet signed on 6 February 1840 at Waitangi.

The monarchy of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of New Zealand. The current monarch is King Charles III, who has reigned since 8 September 2022.

The Treaty of Waitangi between Queen Victoria and Māori chiefs (rangatira) was signed on 6 February 1840. This laid the foundation for the proclamation of British sovereignty over New Zealand on 21 May 1840; the British monarch became New Zealand's head of state. The country gradually became independent from Britain and the monarchy evolved to become a distinctly New Zealand institution, represented by unique symbols. The individual who is the New Zealand monarch is currently shared with 14 other countries (realms) within the Commonwealth of Nations, in each of which the monarchy is legally separate. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of New Zealand (Māori: Kīngi o Aotearoa) and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake various public and private functions across the Realm of New Zealand. The King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.

Te Rauparaha (c. 1760s – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira, warlord, and chief of the Ngāti Toa iwi. One of the most powerful military leaders of the Musket Wars, Te Rauparaha fought a war of conquest that greatly expanded Ngāti Toa southwards, receiving the epithet "the Napoleon of the South". He remains one of the most prominent and celebrated New Zealand historical figures.

Born probably in the 1760s, Te Rauparaha's conquests eventually extended Ngāti Toa authority from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson. He participated in land sale and negotiations with the New Zealand Company at the beginning of the colonisation of New Zealand. An early signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi, Te Rauparaha was later central to the Wairau Affray in the Marlborough district, considered by many to be the first of the conflicts in the New Zealand Wars. Shortly before he died he led the building of Rangiātea Church in Ōtaki.

The human history of New Zealand can be dated back to between 1320 and 1350 CE, when the main settlement period started, after it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture. Like other Pacific cultures, Māori society was centred on kinship links and connection with the land but, unlike them, it was adapted to a cool, temperate environment rather than a warm, tropical one. The first European explorer known to have visited New Zealand was the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, on 13 December 1642. In 1643 he charted the west coast of the North Island, his expedition then sailed back to Batavia without setting foot on New Zealand soil. British explorer James Cook, who reached New Zealand in October 1769 on the first of his three voyages, was the first European to circumnavigate and map New Zealand. From the late 18th century, the country was regularly visited by explorers and other sailors, missionaries, traders and adventurers. The period from Polynesian settlement to Cook's arrival is New Zealand's prehistoric period, a time before written records began. Acknowledgement of indigenous oral history as recorded history is a matter of academic debate. Depending on definitions, the period from 1642 to 1769 can be called New Zealand's protohistory rather than prehistory: Tasman's recording of Māori was isolated and scant.

On 6 February 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between representatives of the United Kingdom and various Māori chiefs, initially at Waitangi and over the following weeks at other locations across the country. On 21 May 1840, New Zealand entered the British Empire when Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty at Kororāreka (Russell). Disputes over the differing versions of the Treaty and settler desire to acquire land from Māori led to the New Zealand Wars from 1843. There was extensive British settlement throughout the rest of the 19th century and into the early part of the next century. The effects of European infectious diseases, the New Zealand Wars, and the imposition of a European economic and legal system led to most of New Zealand's land passing from Māori to Pākehā (European) ownership, and Māori became impoverished.

The word pā (Māori pronunciation: [ˈpaː]; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive terraces – and also to fortified villages. Pā sites occur mainly in the North Island of New Zealand, north of Lake Taupō. Over 5,000 sites have been located, photographed and examined, although few have been subject to detailed analysis. Variations similar to pā occur throughout central Polynesia, in the islands of Fiji, Tonga and the Marquesas Islands.

In Māori culture, a great pā represented the mana (prestige or power) and strategic ability of an iwi (tribe or tribal confederacy), as personified by a rangatira (chieftain). Māori built pā in various defensible locations around the territory (rohe) of an iwi to protect fertile plantation-sites and food supplies.

The monarchy of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of New Zealand. The current monarch, King Charles III, acceded to the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on 8 September 2022 in the United Kingdom. The King's elder son, William, Prince of Wales, is the heir apparent.

The Treaty of Waitangi between Queen Victoria and Māori chiefs (rangatira) was signed on 6 February 1840. This laid the foundation for the proclamation of British sovereignty over New Zealand on 21 May 1840; the British monarch became New Zealand's head of state. The country gradually became independent from Britain and the monarchy evolved to become a distinctly New Zealand institution, represented by unique symbols. The individual who is the New Zealand monarch is currently shared with 14 other countries (realms) within the Commonwealth of Nations, in each of which the monarchy is legally separate. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of New Zealand (Māori: Kīngi o Aotearoa) and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake various public and private functions across the Realm of New Zealand. The King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.

The 1840s (pronounced "eighteen-forties") was the decade that began on January 1, 1840, and ended on December 31, 1849.

The decade was noted in Europe for featuring the largely unsuccessful Revolutions of 1848, also known as the Springtime of Nations. Throughout the continent, bourgeois liberals and working-class radicals engaged in a series of revolts in favor of social reform. In the United Kingdom, this notably manifested itself through the Chartist movement, which sought universal suffrage and parliamentary reform. In France, the February Revolution led to the overthrow of the Orléans dynasty by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1848, the publication of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx would help lay the groundwork for the global socialist movement. Arguably the first major event of the decade was the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in the United Tribes (modern-day New Zealand) between Māori rangatira and representatives of the British Crown, which began in February 1840. Due to the differences between the Māori and English versions of the texts, the British claimed Māori had ceded sovereignty and proclaimed a new Colony, leading to more than 25 years of asymmetric armed conflict until the Colony secured substantive control.

Hongi Hika (c. 1772 – 6 March 1828) was a New Zealand Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the iwi of Ngāpuhi. He was a pivotal figure in the early years of regular European contact and settlement in New Zealand. As one of the first Māori leaders to understand the advantages of European muskets in warfare, he used them to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the early nineteenth century Musket Wars.

In order to obtain the muskets Hongi Hika encouraged Pākehā (European) settlement, built mutually beneficial relationships with New Zealand's first missionaries, introduced Māori to Western agriculture and helped put the Māori language into writing. He traveled to England and met King George IV. His military campaigns resulted in the Musket Wars, and preventing them was an important motivators for the British annexation of New Zealand and subsequent Treaty of Waitangi with Ngāpuhi and many other iwi.

Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (died 25 June 1860) was a Māori rangatira who reigned as the inaugural Māori King from 1858 until his death. A powerful nobleman and a leader of the Waikato iwi of the Tainui confederation, he was the founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. His 1858 coronation followed years of efforts to create the Kīngitanga, a Māori monarchy intended as an equivalent of the British monarchy, and to foster Māori nationalism against settler encroachment.

He was first known just as Te Wherowhero and took the name Pōtatau after he was crowned. As disputes over land grew more severe, Te Wherowhero found himself increasingly at odds with the Government and its policies. Although he accepted the throne reluctantly and reigned only briefly, he has been credited with establishing a number of historical precedents for the Kīngitanga that survive today, as well as more broadly for the rise of pan-Māori identity.