Invasion of Rēkohu and the Moriori
Te whakaeke i Rēkohu
- When
- 1835–1836
- Where
- Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) · Rēkohu
- Reach
- Several regions
Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama sailed to the Chathams and took the islands. The Moriori, holding to their covenant of peace, chose not to resist and were nearly destroyed.
About 900 people arrived aboard the chartered brig Lord Rodney. Moriori elders met at Te Awapātiki and reaffirmed Nunuku’s law forbidding killing, deciding not to fight. Several hundred were killed and the survivors enslaved; the population fell from around 1,600 to barely 100 by 1862. The Native Land Court awarded the islands to the invaders in 1870. That was addressed in principle only in 2001, when the Waitangi Tribunal reported on Rēkohu, with a Crown apology and settlement following in 2020.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
Related
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