The First Taranaki War was heavily impacted and engendered by differing cultural beliefs between the opposing parties, an ambiguous translation of the Treaty of Waitangi, and intertribal disputes. In the following essay, the course of the war will be described, and the essential parts highlighted. The impact of the differing cultural beliefs and attitudes between the Taranaki tribes and the European migrants will be clarified. Additionally, the result of the equivocal translation of the Treaty of Waitangi in this war will be discussed and scrutinized. The occurrence and effect of intertribal issues are a further topic of this essay.
How did cultural differences between the Maori tribes of Taranaki and the European settlers have an impact on the First Taranaki War? Wars are processes that need to be analyzed and understood. To understand how and why wars come to be, one needs to look at the very beginning. There might not always be a simple explanation for the eruption of a battle and the reasons may vary immensely (Coccia 1), but it is possible to determine plausible reasons. They can be for the sole purpose of wanting to defeat an adversary or seek revenge for past crimes, yet conflicts can also be the result of cultural differences or misunderstandings.
The First Taranaki War was heavily impacted and engendered by differing cultural beliefs between the opposing parties, an ambiguous translation of the Treaty of Waitangi, and intertribal disputes. In the following essay, the course of the war will be described, and the essential parts highlighted. The impact of the differing cultural beliefs and attitudes between the Taranaki tribes and the European migrants will be clarified. Additionally, the result of the equivocal translation of the Treaty of Waitangi in this war will be discussed and scrutinized. The occurrence and effect of intertribal issues are a further topic of this essay.
The First Taranaki War occurred between 1860 and 1861 in the region of Taranaki (Segell 113). According to Keenan (2012), this was the decade when the Maori became outnumbered by the European settlers. The South Island was almost completely inhabited by Pakeha, leaving only parts of the North Island for the Maori to live on. As stated by Barber, the term Pakeha refers to settled New Zealanders who were originally from Europe (3). In light of there being exponential growth in the number of European settlers, the demand for more land to live on grew and the pressure to expand rose, as well (Keenan). The Pakeha branched out to the North Island but here the Maori resisted selling and giving up any more of their land. The Governor Thomas Gore Browne traveled to New Plymouth in 1859 in the hope of finding new places to live for the settlers (Keenan). He reached out to the Maori tribes and tried to persuade them to sell their land (Segell 113). It is essential to note that the Maori thought they had full control and ownership of the lands which belonged to them, due to the translation of the Treaty which will be explained later in more detail. (Orange 31).
As stated before, many Maori were against selling their land but one young chief of the Te Atiawa tribes, Te Teira, approached Browne and offered to sell land on the banks of the Waitara river (Storey 119). His senior, Wiremu Kingi, was opposed to this and voiced his objections. Despite the objections, Gore Browne accepted the offer from Te Teira (Storey 119). Instantaneously, the land along the Waitara River was occupied by British soldiers (Segell 113). Although Wiremu Kingi and his supporters tried to interrupt the occupation of the land, it was to no avail (Keenan).
The first shot of the First Taranaki War was fired on the 17th of March 1860 by British soldiers, under orders from Governor Browne, on Te Kohia pa, a fortified stockade of the Maori (Prickett, “The Archaeology” 3). The Maori returned fire, but the pa was evacuated in the night and found empty by soldiers (Pricket, “Maori Casualties” 83). As mentioned by Prickett, only later when a couple of Pakeha representatives visited the pa where Wiremu Kingi resided, were they able to confirm that there had been, in fact, no casualties at all, only one heavily injured man (“Maori Casualties” 83). The next significant battle was the ‘Battle of Wareika’ on 28th March 1860. The Taranaki tribes joined with the tribe Ngai Ruanui and built the famous pa ‘Kaipopo’ in Omata upon a hill (Prickett, “Maori Casualties” 83). Unlike the first battle, in the Battle of Wareika the casualties among the Maori remain unknown to this day, which could also be due to the fact that they keep their losses quite secretive and take care of their own, if wounded or dead (Prickett, “Maori Casualties” 85). According to Prickett, Major General Thomas Pratt was one of the biggest concerns for the Maori(“Maori Casualties” 106). In the September of 1861, he launched a myriad of raids on Te Atiawa stock holds. He kept on hitting them with attacks, wearing them down slowly, but surely (Prickett, “Maori Casualties” 106).
The war came to an end in February 1861. According to Keenan, on the 19th of March 1861, a “senior Kingitanga” (Engl.: Maori King Movement), Wiremu Tamihana, negotiated a truce with the British opponents. He did this in order to protect the sacred land of Pukerangiora and the historic pa (Keenan).
One reason for the start of the First Taranaki War was the difference in connection to land and history. Taranaki is a region that is located on the western coast of the North Island of New Zealand (King and Robinson 213) and is rich with cultural history belonging to the Maori. Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont, dominates the entire region and is now even situated in a national park (Marcus and Moore 44).
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- Naomi Kailasam (Autor:in), 2021, The First Taranaki War in New Zealand and its causes. Occurrence and effect of intertribal issues, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1168619
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