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Ngati Toa
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Ngati Toa (Ngati Toarangatira), an iwi (New Zealand Maori tribe), traces its descent from the eponymous ancestor Toarangatira. The Ngati Toa region extends from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson.
However the tribe mainly lives around Porirua and Nelson.
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Encyclopedia
Ngati Toa (Ngati Toarangatira), an iwi (New Zealand Maori tribe), traces its descent from the eponymous ancestor Toarangatira. The Ngati Toa region extends from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson.
However the tribe mainly lives around Porirua and Nelson. An aphorism links tribal identity with ancestors and landmarks:
Ko Whitireia te maunga
Ko Raukawa te moana
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Ngati Toarangatira te iwi
Ko Te Rauparaha te tangata
History
Toarangatira: the origin of an iwi
Tupahau, an ancestor of Ngati Toa, received warning of an imminent attack by Tamure, a priest of Tainui, and at once organised a plan of defence and attack. Tamure had an army of 2000 warriors whereas Tupahau had only 300. Tupahau and his followers won the battle, however Tupahau spared Tamure's life. Tamure responded to this by saying, Tena koe Tupahau, te toa rangatira! meaning "Hail Tupahau the chivalrous warrior!" (toa meaning "brave man" or "champion" and rangatira meaning "gallant", "grand", "admirable" or "chiefly"). Later, Tupahau’s daughter-in-law bore a son who received the name "Toarangatira" to commemorate both this event and the subsequent peace made between Tamure and Tupahau. Ngati Toa descend from Toarangatira.
Te Rauparaha
Parekowhatu of Ngati Raukawa, the wife of Werawera of Ngati Toa, gave birth to Te Rauparaha in about the 1760s. According to tribal tradition the birth took place at Patangata near Kawhia. Te Rauparaha became the foremost chief of Ngati Toa, credited with leading Ngati Toa forces against the Waikato and Ngati Maniapoto iwi; and with piloting the migration to, and the conquest and settlement of, the Cook Strait region in the 1820s.
Te Rauparaha signed the Treaty of Waitangi twice in May and June, 1840: first at Kapiti Island and then again at Wairau. Te Rauparaha resisted European settlement in those areas which he claimed he had not sold. Disputes occurred over Porirua and the Hutt Valley. But the major clash came in 1843 when Te Rauparaha and his kinsman Te Rangihaeata tried to prevent the survey of their lands in the Wairau plains. Fighting broke out, resulting in the death of Te Rongo, the wife of Te Rangihaeata. Te Rangihaeata then killed the survey-party to avenge his wife's death. This became known as the Wairau Affray.
Following fighting in the Hutt Valley in 1846, Governor George Grey arrested Te Rauparaha aboard the naval vessel Driver. Two hours before dawn the ship returned and British troops took Te Rauparaha on board. The Pakeha authorities held him without charge for 10 months and then kept him under house arrest in Auckland. Te Rauparaha's last notable achievement came with the construction of Rangiatea Church (1846) in Otaki. He did not adopt Christianity, although he attended church services.
Te Rauparaha died on 27 November 1849 and was buried near Rangiatea, in Otaki. Many remember him as the author of the haka " Ka mate, ka mate".
Migrations from the north
Ngati Toa lived around the Kawhia region for many generations until increasing conflicts with neighbouring Waikato-Maniapoto iwi forced a withdrawal from their homeland. From the late eighteenth century Ngati Toa and related tribes constantly warred with the Waikato-Maniapoto tribes for control of the rich fertile land north of Kawhia. The wars intensified with every killing of a major chief and with each insult and slight suffered. Ngati Toa migrated from Kawhia to the Cook Strait region under the leadership of their chief Te Rauparaha in the 1820s.
Together, the two migrations Heke Tahutahuahi and Heke Tataramoa have the name Heke mai raro, meaning "migration from the north". The carved meeting-house bearing the name Te Heke Mai Raro, which stands on Hongoeka Marae, immortalises the migration.
The first migration, Heke Tahutahuahi, 1820
Heke Tahutahuahi (translatable as the "migration of the refugee fires") brought the Ngati Toa iwi out of Kawhia and into Taranaki in 1820. The Taranaki iwi Ngati Mutunga presented Ngati Toa with Pukewhakamaru Pa, as well as with the cultivations nearby. Pukewhakamaru lay inland of Okoki, up the Urenui River. Ngati Toa stayed at Pukewhakamaru for 12 months. The Waikato-Maniapoto alliance followed Ngati Toa to Taranaki and battles ensued there, most notably the battle of Motunui between Waikato-Maniapoto and the Ngati Tama, Te Ati Awa and Ngati Mutunga alliance.
The second migration, Heke Tataramoa, 1822-
The name Heke Tataramoa (translatable as the "bramble bush migration") commemorates the difficulties experienced during Ngati Toa's second migration. Ngati Toa left Okoki around February-March of 1822 after harvesting crops planted for the journey. This heke also included some people from Ngati Tama, Ngati Mutunga and Te Ati Awa. The heke arrived in the Horowhenua-Kapiti region in the early 1820s and settled first in Te Awamate, then at Te Wharangi, and then eventually on Kapiti Island.
Haka copyright
Between 1998 and 2006, Ngati Toa attempted to place a copyright on the haka, which would have forbid its use by commercial organisations without their permission. The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand turned their claim down in 2006 as Ka Mate was widely recognised in New Zealand and abroad as representing New Zealand as a whole and not a particular trader.
Ngati Toa today
Ngati Toa remains a small iwi with a population of only about 4500 (NZ Census 2001). It has four marae: Takapuwahia and Hongoeka in Porirua, and Whakatu and Wairau in the north of the South Island. Ngati Toa's governing body has the name Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira.
External links
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- in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
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