Te Rauparaha

Personal details

Full Name:

Te Rauparaha

Lifetime:

?–27 Nov 1849

Biography

Te Rauparaha

Te Rauparaha was a Ngāti Toa chief and warrior. Sometimes called the 'Napoleon of the Southern Hemisphere', he ruled the lower end of the North Island from his base at Kapiti Island for the best part of 20 years

Events In History

27 November 1849

Death of Te Rauparaha

The formidable Ngāti Toa leader had dominated Te Moana-o-Raukawa - the Cook Strait region - from his base at Kapiti Island for nearly 20 years. Read more...
17 June 1843

The Wairau incident

Also known as the ‘Wairau Affray’ and ‘Wairau Massacre’, this was the first serious clash of arms between Māori and British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Four Māori and 22 Europeans were killed. Read more...

Articles

The Wairau incident

On 17 June 1843, 22 European settlers and four Māori were killed when an armed party of New Zealand Company settlers clashed with Ngāti Toa over the purchase of land in the Wairau Valley, near modern-day Blenheim.
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Page 2 – Ngāti Toa and the New Zealand Company
The Wairau incident had its origins in the migration of Ngāti Toa and its allies from Kāwhia to the Kapiti region of the southern North Island.
Page 3 – Violence erupts
When Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata told William Wakefield to stop the survey, he instructed his brother Arthur to ignore their opposition.
Page 4 – The fallout from Wairau
The news from Wairau shocked settlers throughout the colony. The killing of men who had surrendered was viewed as cold-blooded murder. Many feared that these events signalled

A frontier of chaos?

In the years before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, relations between Māori and Europeans were marred by a number of high-profile incidents.
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Page 5 - Captain Stewart and the ElizabethIn 1830 Captain William Stewart of the brig Elizabeth made an arrangement with the Ngāti Toa leader Te Rauparaha to ferry a taua (war party) of 100 warriors from his base on

War in Wellington

In 1846 fighting broke out in the Wellington region as the Ngāti Toa chief Te Rangihaeata backed local Maori opposed to European settlement in the Hutt Valley. The campaign claimed few lives and Ngāti Toa resistance in the region was effectively ended as a result.
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Page 6 - Last battlesIn mid-1846, Governor George Grey decided to neutralise the Ngāti Toa threat in the Wellington region by arresting Te