Events In History
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4 July 1868Te Kooti escapes from the ChathamsTe Kooti and 300 followers captured the schooner Rifleman and sailed for New Zealand. The fugitives landed at Whareongaonga, just south of Poverty Bay, six days later. Read more...
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5 June 1866Te Kooti deported to ChathamsThe future prophet and military leader was deported with Pai Mārire prisoners to the Chatham Islands. He had been accused of spying for the enemy while fighting with government troops. Read more...
Te Kooti
Te Kooti fought on the government side in the New Zealand Wars before being exiled to the Chatham Islands on charges of espionage. He later escaped back to the mainland and fought a long guerilla war against government forces.
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Te Kooti's war
Te Kooti was one of the most significant Māori leaders of the 19th century. For nearly four years he waged a guerrilla war unlike any previous conflict in the New Zealand Wars. His influence continues to be felt in the eastern Bay of Plenty and East Coast, where his Ringatū faith remains strong.
- Page 3 - Exile and deliveranceChatham Island would be home for Te Kooti and his fellow prisoners for two years from 1866.
The people who became the Moriori arrived on the islands from Eastern Polynesia and New Zealand around 1400 AD. They had no contact with other people for about 400 years, and developed their own distinct culture. They were hunter-gatherers with strong religious beliefs, and outlawed war and killing. In 1790 an English ship, the Chatham, was blown off course and landed on the main island. Later European sealers, settlers and whalers arrived. In 1835 two Māori groups, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga, invaded the Chatham Islands. They had left northern Taranaki due to warfare, and were seeking somewhere else to live. Moriori decided to greet them peacefully, but the Māori killed more than 200 Moriori and enslaved the rest. Māori grew vegetables and traded with the Europeans. By 1870 most of the Māori had returned to Taranaki. Some of the whalers stayed on the islands and there was intermarriage between the different ethnic groups.
