Captain William Hobson (26 September 1792 – 10 September 1842) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the first governor of New Zealand from 1841 to 1842. He was a co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi which he, as Crown representative, and several Maori chiefs signed on 6 February 1840. On 3 May 1840, he proclaimed British sovereignty over New Zealand. He also selected the site for a new capital, which he named Auckland. In May 1841, New Zealand was constituted as a separate Crown colony with Hobson promoted to governor and commander-in-chief. In his final months, Hobson was dogged by poor health which left him detached from political affairs. He died in office in September 1842.
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👉 William Hobson in the context of Treaty of Waitangi
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.
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William Hobson in the context of Independence of New Zealand
The independence of New Zealand from the United Kingdom following British sovereignty and colonisation came about progressively through a number of constitutional events. No single date is recognised as the point at which New Zealand became independent.
Beginning in the late 1700s New Zealand's Māori population was supplemented by sealers and whalers from Europe, followed by sporadic arrivals of adventurers from Europe and the Americas, Christian missionaries, and escaped convicts from Australia. British Resident James Busby arrived in New Zealand in May 1833. In 1835, a number of Māori chiefs asserted their sovereignty within their independent tribal nations by signing the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand (He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni). On 6 February 1840, William Hobson, as representative of the United Kingdom, and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which established the right of the British Crown to govern, and Hobson subsequently proclaimed British sovereignty over the islands in May of the same year.
William Hobson in the context of History of New Zealand
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.
William Hobson in the context of List of governors-general of New Zealand
The following is a list of the governors and governors-general of New Zealand. As the personal representative of the New Zealand monarch, the governor-general performs many of the functions vested in the Crown, such as summoning and dissolving Parliament, granting or withholding the Royal Assent, making state visits, and receiving ambassadors. These functions are performed on the advice of the head of government, the prime minister.
From William Hobson's appointment in 1841, a total of 37 individuals have served as governor, governor-in-chief (1848–1853), or governor-general (since 1917). Sir Arthur Porritt was the first New Zealand-born governor-general, although he had been living in Britain for 31 years at the time of his appointment. All governors-general since Sir Denis Blundell in 1972 have been New Zealand residents and, with the exception of Sir David Beattie, New Zealand-born. The list does not include lieutenant-governors of the provinces of New Ulster and New Munster that existed between 1848 and 1853. The table also does not include administrators of the government, who fulfil viceregal duties between the terms of governors-general, or at other times when the governor-general is overseas or otherwise unable to carry out the role. The role of administrator is normally undertaken by the chief justice.