Pōtatau te Wherowhero
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (* 1775 in Waikato District , Aotearoa , † June 25, 1860 in Ngāruawāhia , New Zealand ) was chief of the Māori - Iwi in the Waikato region and the first king of the Māori in New Zealand.
Life
Te Wherowhero, as he was called when he was young, belonged to the Ngāti Mahuta tribe . and was the eldest son of Te Rauangaanga, the warrior and leader of the alliance of all Iwi of the Waikato region. His mother was Te Parengaope, a highly respected woman of the Ngāti Koura tribe . A wide variety of information is given in the literature about Te Wherowhero's year of birth. According to an assumption by Pei Te Hurinui , who refers to the records of missionaries and carried out corresponding research on the sources, Te Wherowhero is said to have been born around 1775. On his father's side he was the 16th in the line of Tamatekapua , the leader of the Arawa canoe that came from Tahiti around 1350 and landed on the North Island of New Zealand.
When he was ten, Te Wherowhero was sent by his father to Whare Wānanga , the place of higher learning where adolescents were instructed in the history , genealogy and religious practice of their tribe and culture. He attended the sacred school Te Papa o Rotu, in Whatawhata on the Waipa River , where his father was also a high priest .
Te Wherowhero married Waiata, the eldest daughter of the chief of the Ngāti Maniapoto , Tukorehu. When the two remained without children, Tukorehu insisted that Te Wherowhero, who was already in his fourth decade, also marry his second daughter, Ngawaero.
When from 1820 the northern tribes of the Waikato region were pushed south by attacks by the Ngāpuhi under Hongi Hika , wars with the Ngāti Toa broke out . At the latest from this point in time, Te Wherowhero was one of the most important leaders and was characterized by his superior strategy and tactics. In the battles of the Waikato tribes with the Ngāti Toa, their leader Te Rauparaha was finally defeated and had to withdraw with his tribe first to the Taranaki region and later go further south. Te Wherowhero was on military campaigns until 1836. In the armed conflicts he often claimed to be the first to kill one of the opposing warriors, which was honored with the highest recognition in the warfare of the Maori. During this time he was also given the nickname Pōtatau , which Pei Te Hurinui translated into English as doorway of night ( German : door to night ).
Between 1833 and 1836 Pōtatau Te Wherowhero tried unsuccessfully to defeat tribes in the Taranaki region and finally gave up his campaigns in 1836 after an unsuccessful attack on the Waimate pa on the Kapuni Stream. From this point in time and under the influence of the missionaries who poured into the country from the 1830s , Te Wherowhero tried more and more to campaign for peace among the Māori tribes.
Waitangi Treaty
In 1840, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero had now reached the highest priesthood of the Tainui tribal association of the Polynesian Māori, he befriended Te Heuheu , the powerful Māori chief of the Taupo region , who was also the highest spiritual leader. Both were present in Taupo when the Waitangi Treaty was signed by the more southern tribes of the North Island. But both refused to sign because they were not invited or represented at the original Waitangi meeting . Te Heuheu later signed under pressure from the British government, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero did not, although he was later downright "courted" by Governor George Edward Gray .
King of the Māori
From 1840 Pōtatau Te Wherowhero also visited the tribes against whom he had been at war years earlier. Well, getting on in years and with the highest reputation , he stood up for peace and understanding among the tribes. Pōtatau Te Wherowhero did not oppose the growing influence of the missionaries and the Christianization of the tribes, as he also saw advantages in the new faith. But he was not baptized until his death and together with Te Heuheu he continued to teach the esoteric faith and the values of his Polynesian ancestors.
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, now widely recognized and respected by Governor Robert FitzRoy , became a friend of Governor Gray when he took office in 1845. Te Wherowhero was frequently consulted by Gray on Māori matters. As Gray came under greater pressure from the New Zealand Company's practice of blackmailing Māori land and Māori tribes became increasingly disaffected by the land grab, Te Wherowhero also increasingly turned away from the government and from Gray.
The idea of installing a Māori king is said to have originally come from the British Queen Victoria, who wanted to unite and pacify the Māori with it. It is said to have been Pirikawau from the Ati Awa tribe who , as a friend of Governor Gray, became aware of it and carried the idea into the tribes and then received an increasingly positive response. Thus the Kīngitanga (English: Māori King Movement ) was born.
At a meeting (Hui) on the east coast of the North Island, Te Kaniatakirau's decision to make a powerful chief of the east coast Māori king failed because of a dissenting vote. Thereafter Te Heuheu was favored, but he in turn suggested Te Wherowhero. In November 1856 a meeting of all chiefs of the country took place in Pukawa on Lake Taupo . At this meeting, however, Te Wherowhero handed the symbol for the Māori king back to Te Heuheu, who also repeatedly refused, which, by the way, all the chiefs who came into question did.
In 1857 a corresponding meeting took place in Maniapoto , where the question of the king was brought back to Te Wherowhero and he was unanimously chosen for this position. Two more meetings followed in Waikato in 1858/59. The first meeting was held in Paetai near Rangiriri on the Waikato River. Te Wherowhero had meanwhile accepted to become king, having come to the conclusion that acceptance of this office and the distinction from the other chiefs could restore the loss of prestige and sacred symbols to the Māori people. To add symbolism to the Maniapoto meeting, two flags were hoisted - one for the Queen of England and the other for the King of the Māori.
At the second meeting in Rangiaohia in early 1859, all the Māori chiefs were present, and Te Wherowhero was officially elected king, followed by a solemn ceremony that took place in Ngaruawahia on May 2, 1859, at which the Tapaue royal flag was officially unfurled.
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero died on June 25, 1860 in Ngaruawahia. After his death, his son Tawhiao was elected king.
literature
- Pei Te Hurinui: King Potatau - An Account of the Life of Potatau Te Wherowhero the First Maori King . Published by The Polynesian Society, Auckland 1959.
Critical note on the sources
About the background, the procedure and the various assemblies that took place in order to find and install the king of the Māori are sometimes given quite different information depending on the source.
- The essay by Steven Oliver under Dictionary of New Zealand Biography refers e.g. B. on two sources, the first source is Te Hurinui, PP Jones. King Potatau. Wellington, 1960, which is also primarily referred to in this article and the second source is Kelly, LG Tainui. Wellington, 1949. Nevertheless, the essay remains imprecise at the crucial points or important moments are not mentioned.
- The author of the articles on New Zealand History Online is not named and no references are provided. It is in these articles that there are also the greatest differences from the book King Potatau by Pei Te Hurinui.
- In the article by Walter Hugh Ross under Te Ara - Encyclopedia of New Zealand four different sources are mentioned, one of which is also that of this article. Nevertheless, different dates are also mentioned here, some of which lead to a third version.
This article is based on the book by Pei Te Hurinui, who wrote the book on behalf of the Polynesian Society. Pei Te Hurinui has probably accessed the most comprehensive sources for this and describes in his foreword (see Preface) a. a. also the reasons for differences. From a newspaper article in the Taranaki Herald of May 28, 1859, z. B. taken and concluded that the enthronement of Potatau Te Wherowheros must have taken place shortly before. In this respect, Pei Te Hurinui's indication of the date (May 2, 1859) is more credible than all other sources that indicate the year 1858.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Te Wherowhero, Potatau, or Potatau I - Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand - (accessed April 22, 2010)
- ↑ Pei Te Hurinui, 1959, Book One - The Wherowhero, Chapter 1 - Te Rauangaanga, p.3
- ↑ Pei Te Hurinui, 1959, Book One - The Wherowhero, Chapter 11 - Settling of Accounts, page 148
- ↑ a b Steven Oliver : Te Wherowhero, Potatau . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , July 4, 2012, accessed August 25, 2012 .
- ↑ Te Kiingitanga Maaori - Established to unite all Iwi within Aotearoa . Naumaiplace Ltd as of October 20, 2010, archived from the original on October 14, 2011 ; accessed on January 20, 2016 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ Pei Te Hurinui, 1959, Book Two - Potatau, Chapter 1 - Genesis of an Idea, p.183
- ↑ Pei Te Hurinui, 1959, Book One - Te Wherowhero, Chapter 3 - The Priestly Scholar, p 37
- ↑ Origins of the Maori King movement - New Zealand History Online - (accessed April 23, 2010)
- ↑ Pei Te Hurinui, 1959, Preface, i-iii.
- ^ New Plymouth, May 28, 1859 . In: The Taranaki Herald . Volume VII, Issue 356 , May 28, 1859, pp. 2 (English, online [accessed September 26, 2018]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pōtatau te Wherowhero |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | first king of the Māori in New Zealand |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1775 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Waikato District |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 25, 1860 |
| Place of death | Ngāruawāhia |