Kahumatamomoe

Lake Rotoiti

Kahumatamomoe was an explorer from the Māori people on the North Island of New Zealand . Several New Zealand place names in the native language go back to him.

Kahumatamomoe and his nephew Īhenga started their journey in Maketū and together they came to Poutū in the north. Here they parted: Kahumatamomoe traveled to Rotorua via the Coromandel Peninsula . Īhenga traveled north to Kawakawa and eventually returned to Maketū.

Kahumatamomoe's father was called Tamatekapua. He was the leader of the Waka (canoe) Arawa , to which the Te Arawa refer their origin. This canoe was one of the great canoes in which the Māori reached and settled New Zealand. It landed in Maketū on the east side of the North Island, south of today's Tauranga .

The two traveled south and reached Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti , which they gave each other names by their names: Te Rotoruanui-a-Kahumatamomoe (The second great lake of Kahumatamomoe) and Te Rotoiti-kite-a-Īhenga (Lake Rotorua ). Kahumatamomoe continued south and crossed the Waikato River . They called this place Te Whakamaru-o-Kahumatamomoe (The Refuge of Kahumatamomoe).

Then they traveled in a north-westerly direction to the east coast as far as Raglan (Whāingaroa). They then traveled north to visit Kahumatamomoe's older nephews Taramainuku, Warenga and Huarere, who lived in the north of the island. At Manukau Harbor , Kahumatamomoe set up a stake as a sign of ownership and named the natural harbor Te Mānuka . They reached Poutu on the north side of the entrance to Kaipara Harbor . Henga's brother Taramainuku lived here. Kahumatamomoe gave the harbor after a banquet at which he fern (Kaipara) was served, the name Te Kaiparapara-a-Kahumatamomoe .

Kahumatamomoe left Īhenga behind. He drove south over the Kaipara River and Kumeu River . Via Waitemata Harbor he reached the Coromandel Peninsula , on which Īhenga's brother Huarere had settled. He traveled back to Rotorua first by canoe, then on foot. On the way he climbed the highest point of the Kaimai Range and named it Te Muri-aroha-o-Kahu, te aroha-tai, te aroha- because of his relatives living in the north and the Coromandel Peninsula by the sea and near Rotorua and Taupō . uta (Kahu's love for those on the coast and those inland) .

Īhenga traveled north from Kaipara Harbor alone up the Wairoa River , crossing the valley of the Mangakāhia River and the Waimate Plains . Eventually he reached Kawakawa in the Bay of Islands , where his brother Warenga lived. Īhenga also gave places their names, such as Ruapekapeka (“place of the bats”) and Motatau (“talk to yourself”). Then he turned south and traveled to Whangarei . There he climbed a mountain in a thunderstorm and consequently called it Whaitiri ("thunder"). From Whāngārei he took the canoe to Moehau and back to his starting point Maketū.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Story: Waewae tapu Nga - exploration Māori; Map to page 5 - Te Arawa explorers. in: Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. accessed February 15, 2015 (with route map)
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Story: Ngā waewae tapu - Māori exploration Page 5 - Te Arawa explorers in: Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. accessed February 15, 2015