Hongi Hika

Hongi Hika (1820)

Hongi Hika (* 1772 in Kaikohe , Far North District , New Zealand , † 6. March 1828 in Whangaroa , Northland , New Zealand) was an influential Māori - Chief of NGAPUHI - Iwi and the most famous war leader at the time of New Zealand's Musket Wars .

Live and act

Depending on the source, different information is given about the year of birth of Hongi Hika . According to the latest publications, 1772 can be assumed to be the year of his birth. Hongi Hika was born near Kaikohe as the third son of Te Hotete and his second wife Tuhi Kura and belonged to the Iwi of the Ngāpuhi .

As a young man he fought in many wars against the long-time arch enemies of his tribe, the Ngāti Whatua . In the fight in 1807 to Moremonui , at Maunganui Bluff , are between tribes first muskets have been used. The Ngāpuhi were inferior despite the firearms, since the reloading of the shotguns took too long and they were overrun. The Māori - Chief Pokia , who had started the war over Hongi Hika's sister Ka-raru - she had taken someone from the Ngāti Whatua tribe - and was a relative of his, as well as two of Hongi Hika's brothers and many others of his tribe were massacred. Hongi Hika himself only barely survived by taking refuge in the swamps. After this battle he was appointed war leader of his tribe. He was chief of 17 settlements, but lived mainly in Kerikeri . After his eldest brother Kaingaroa died in 1815 , he became the undisputed tribal leader.

Hongi Hika (center) together with Thomas Kendall (right) and the Māori - Chief Waikato (left) (1820)

Hongi Hika , who was constantly looking for contact with Europeans in order to be able to do business , traveled to Sydney in 1814 with the newly arrived missionary Thomas Kendall to negotiate with Samuel Marsden of the Church Mission Society (CMS) about a mission station in the Bay of Islands . He placed the station with missionaries Kendall , Hall and King under his personal protection and knew that the reputation of a safe and peaceful place would bring more Europeans to the area to trade in food, raw materials and European technology. Further missions followed in Kerikeri in 1822 and Waimate North in 1830 . Hongi Hika was especially well to the modern weapons of the Europeans, such as the flintlock interested -Musketen, but they promised to fight his enemies advantages over the traditional Māori -Waffentechnik.

1822 traveled Hongi Hika together with the Māori - Chief Waikato and the missionary Thomas Kendall to London . At the invitation Kendall both helped Māori - Chiefs the Oriental linguist of Cambridge University , Professor Samuel Lee in the first nearly complete description of the Maori's language to English . The work A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand was published by CMS in London that same year.

Hongi Hika showed great interest in British arts, crafts and the British military organization during his visits to London and Cambridge . Everywhere he appeared he was given great attention and, in respect, an audience with George IV. He gave him chain mail and some muskets as a gift, although the latter could not cover his needs by far. In London and on the return trip via Sydney , he procured plenty of weapons and ammunition.

Shortly after his return to the Bay of Islands on July 11, 1821, he mobilized around 2,000 of his warriors against the Thames tribes to avenge the death of his son-in-law. Armed with around 1,000 muskets, they killed the leader of the tribes, Te Hinaki, and around 2,000 of his warriors. They didn't leave women and children out either. As a result, he was almost constantly on military expeditions, carried out another revenge against the Ngāti Whatua in 1825 , with over 1,000 victims on the opposing side. He himself spoke of only 100 killed. On his side, however, he had to lament the death of his son, which did not let him rest in vengeance in the persecution of the Ngāti Whatua and ultimately led to resentment among his followers.

In 1826 he decided to move from Waimate to Whangaroa . The Ngati Uru and Ngati Pou had ambushed a brig there and harassed the Wesleyan Mission with threats and theft. Hongi Hika , who was interested in a good relationship with the Europeans, tried to restore order in the area. In January 1828 he was hit by a bullet in the lung during a battle near Mangamuka , near Hokianga Harbor . Less than two months later he succumbed to his injuries in Whangaroa and died on March 6, 1828.

Works

• Thomas Kendall, Samuel Lee : A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand . Church Missionary Society , London 1820 (English, even if Hongi Hika was not named as the author in the publication, the work would not have been created without his collaboration.).

literature

• Dorothy Urlich Cloher : Hongi Hika - Warrior Chief . Viking Books , Auckland 2003, ISBN 0-670-04544-6 (English).
• Angela Ballara : Hongi Hika . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Volume 1 . Allen & Unwin , Wellington 1990 (English, online [accessed September 12, 2018]).
• John White : His Mythology and Traditions: Nga-Puhi . In: New Zealand Government (Ed.): The Ancient History of the Maori . Volume X. Wellington 1887, Chapter XVI - Hongi-hika and his acts (Maori, online [accessed January 24, 2011]).

Web links

• Angela Ballara : Hongi Hika 1772–1828 . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed January 23, 2011. The article was originally published in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography in 1990 and is now available online from Te Ara. 
• Bernard John Foster : Hongi Hika . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , 1966, accessed January 23, 2011 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Moremonui commemorative plaque . Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , accessed January 23, 2011 .  
2. ^ The Ancient History of the Maori - His Mythology and Traditions. Nga-Puhi, Vol. X, Chapter XVI - Hongi-hika and his acts . New Zealand Electronic Text Center , accessed January 24, 2011 .  

Remarks

1. ↑ Hongi Hiko was born with
   • 1772 by Angela Ballara, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography,
   • 1772 by Dorothy Urlich Cloher, Hongi Hika - Warrior Chief,
   • 1777 by HG Scholefield, A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Vol. 2, 1940,
   • 1779 by Victor S. Barnes, The modern Encyclopedia of Australia and New Zealand,
   • 1780 by AH Mc Lintock (Editor), An Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Vol. 3, 1966,
   specified. Unfortunately, no author gives any source on this and, apart from A. Ballara, gives a reason for assuming the year of birth. Ballara and Cloher state that Hongi Hika is said to have told a French researcher in 1824 that he was born in the year of the death of Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne . That would have been 1772.