Ngāti Maru–Ngati Tūwharetoa War

In revenge, Tuterangianini of Ngāti Maru led a successful invasion in late 1827 or early 1828, destroying several settlements.The war had a transformative effect on Ngāti Tūwharetoa, leading them to make greater contact with European traders in order to acquire muskets and strengthening the position of paramount chief, hitherto a form of first among equals, into a strong, hereditary office.In the early 19th century, northern Māori began to acquire European muskets from traders, leading to more intense and wide-ranging warfare than previously.The tribe was split into a number of hapū, which often came into conflict with one another, but they sometimes acknowledged a paramount chief with a limited degree of overarching authority in military matters.When he died around 1820, the position was left vacant, but his son Te Heuheu Tūkino II began to seek the role.[6][7] The war party first attacked a fortress shared by Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Tahu in the Ātiamuri-Orakei Korako region.[6] Tuterangianini joined up with a force of Ngāti Raukawa led by Te Ruamaioro, who were migrating towards the southern part of the North Island as a result of pressure from their neighbours.To secure their passage through Tūwharetoa territory, Ngāti Maru agreed to hand over a number of women as hostages.The local rangatira, Te Wharerangi, was based at Motu-o-puhi, a fortified village on an island at the northeastern end of Lake Rotoaira.[9] Ngāti Raukawa agreed to join the attack, because Te Wharerangi had killed some of their chiefs when they were fleeing from a defeat at Mangatoa on the Manawatū River in 1821.[12] Once Ngāti Maru had enough canoes, they set out at dawn, attacked Motu-o-puhi from the water, and easily seized the village, thanks especially to their gun.[5][9][13] Ngāti Maru lost two chiefs, Te kauauau and Taitanguru, while Pahupahu was killed on the Motu-o-puhi side.Another chieftain, Hikopo tried the same thing and was also killed, but his body was only found later by Te Heuheu, washed up on the shore, with the treasured pounamu pendant, Kaukaumatua, still around his neck.[20][21] In the meanwhile, Te Heuheu and his men went to Maketu in the Bay of Plenty, with a large amount of flax, which they sold to a local trader, Phillip Tapsell, for guns and bullets, so that they would no longer by outgunned by attackers from the coasts.[20][24] Te Arakai led his force south and attacked the Ngāti Parekawa pā of Piripekapeka on the western shore of Lake Taupō.[28] Te Heuheu now prepared for battle, dividing up the front line among all of the hapū that were present, instead of giving it exclusively to his own tribe.He called this arrangement whakauruuru (“integration”) and said it was done Kia kai tahi ai te umu tapu (“so that we may all share in the sacred oven”).Since the force’s presence had now been revealed to Ngāti Maru, Te Heuheu gave the order to attack immediately.One of the prisoners, Toia son of Kukutai called out to Te Heuheu for mercy and was saved when he and his siblings leapt on top of him, shielding him from the executioner with their own bodies.[31] The Ngāti Maru survivors fled along the Puketi and Puketapu tracks to Maungatautari, led by Te Arakai’s son.[29][11] At a later point, Te Heuheu went to Hauraki and concluded a peace agreement with Taraia, the new paramount chief of Ngāti Maru.[11] The war firmly and definitively solidified Te Heuheu’s position as the paramount chief of Ngāti Tūwharetoa.[32] The Ngāti Tūwharetoa account of the war was recorded by Lawrence Marshall Grace in 1881 by Morunga, the wife of Iwikau, who was present during the conflict as a young lady.