Te Tiriti o Waitangi is signed
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
- When
- 6 February 1840 – 3 September 1840
- Where
- Waitangi
- Reach
- Nationwide
Around 540 rangatira signed Te Tiriti at Waitangi and at more than 50 meetings around the country. The English and te reo Māori texts do not say the same thing, and never have.
The English text cedes sovereignty; the te reo Māori text cedes kāwanatanga — governorship — while guaranteeing tino rangatiratanga over lands, villages and taonga. Almost every signatory signed the Māori text. Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty in May 1840 anyway, over the North Island by cession and the South Island by discovery. Waikato and Tūhoe leaders never signed at all. The difference between the two texts is the central fact of New Zealand constitutional history, and the reason the Waitangi Tribunal exists.
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
William Hobson is sent to negotiate a treaty
The Colonial Office instructed Hobson to obtain the free and intelligent consent of Māori to British sovereignty — the brief that produced Te Tiriti six months later.
He Whakaputanga — Declaration of Independence
He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni
Rangatira of the Confederation of United Tribes declared New Zealand an independent state, with all sovereign power residing in the assembled chiefs.
WaitangiNorthern chiefs petition King William IV
Thirteen rangatira asked the King to be a friend and guardian of these islands, worried by lawless traders and by rumours of French designs.
KerikeriThe Native Land Court is established
The court converted customary communal title into individual freehold — the mechanism by which most remaining Māori land was lost, without a shot fired.