TREATY OF WAITANGI - THE MUSKET WARS. The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an inter-tribal arms race in order to gain territory or seek revenge for past defeats.

1. THE TREATY OF WAITANGI
THE MUSKET WARS
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2. This watercolour by Joseph Merrett was made around 1845. It shows a haka where some warriors
hold traditional weapons – the mere pounamu (greenstone club) and taiaha (fighting staff) – and others
hold contemporary weapons – the pātītī (hatchet) and pū (musket).

3. TOOLS AND WEAPONS TO TRADE
Pakeha needed chiefs for protection, and the chiefs wanted Pakeha
trade goods and skills. One famous Ngapuhi chief in the Bay of Islands
was Hongi Hika (1772-1828).
He protected the missionaries, knowing it would bring Pakeha with
tools and weapons to trade.
A great warrior, he led war parties down to the East Cape and brought
back prisoners and preserved heads.

4. Kaimātaotao pā (right), belonging to Ngāti Tama, was located on the Waitangi River on Chatham Island. The pā
facing it was constructed by Ngāti Mutunga to allow gunfire to be directed into Kaimātaotao pā from an elevated
position. Both pā include innovations brought about by the introduction of muskets into Māori warfare.

5. HONGI HIKA
In 1820 Hongi Hika went to England with missionary Thomas Kendall
and another chief, Waikato.
There he met the King and people gave Hongi Hika presents such as a
suit of chain mail. On the way home they stopped in Sydney; Hongi sold
most of his presents and bought 300 muskets.
This started an arms race back in NZ because other Bay of Islands
hapu had to get muskets in self-defence. Hongi marched off to deal with
his enemies down south.

6. HONGI HIKA
In 1820 Hongi Hika went to England with missionary Thomas Kendall
and another chief, Waikato.
There he met the King and people gave Hongi Hika presents such as a
suit of chain mail. On the way home they stopped in Sydney; Hongi sold
most of his presents and bought 300 muskets.
This started an arms race back in NZ because other Bay of Islands
hapu had to get muskets in self-defence. Hongi marched off to deal with
his enemies down south.

7. HONGI HIKA
In 1820 Hongi Hika went to England with missionary Thomas Kendall
and another chief, Waikato.
There he met the King and people gave Hongi Hika presents such as a
suit of chain mail. On the way home they stopped in Sydney; Hongi sold
most of his presents and bought 300 muskets.
This started an arms race back in NZ because other Bay of Islands
hapu had to get muskets in self-defence. Hongi marched off to deal with
his enemies down south.

8. HONGI HIKA WAS GETTING UPSET
Hongi was said to be gentle and polite, and especially kind to his blind
senior wife whose advice he listened to.
When his eldest son was killed in battle, he was very upset.
He was wounded himself in a January 1827 battle but lingered until
March of the next year. His place of burial was kept top secret.

9. UTU
In traditional Maori culture, tribes considered it very important to return a
favour - or punish an insult. If they didn't, the tribe would suffer loss of
honour, or mana. It was the custom of utu.
Hongi Hika's sense of utu was strong and his power and influence was
great. Wave after wave of Nga Puhi raids swept down from the north on an
unheard-of scale as he avenged previous battles against his tribes and
punished insults, some more imagined than real.
The raids were much more destructive because of the use of the musket.

10. MAORI TRIBES FIGHTING
During the 1820s, Maori tribes fought other Maori tribes in raids and
battles in places around the top of the South Island and in places around
the North Island.
Estimated numbers of Maori killed by other Maori in these inter-tribal
wars is around 20,000 and historians describe the wars as a 'slaughter'.
To keep up with Hongi Hika, other Maori tribes produced flax which was
used to exchange for muskets. For example, in 1831, more than 6000
muskets were sent to New Zealand from Sydney. Most of these were
traded for flax, especially with tribes in the Waikato area.

11. MUSKETS’ ROLE
The influence of the large number of muskets brought in by the flax trade,
was not as bad as one may imagine. The worst effects of the 'musket
wars' which were fought between various tribes during the 1820's,
were almost over when the flax trade reached its peak.
Fortunately, the muskets brought in by the flax trade were quite widely
distributed throughout New Zealand, and this tended to restore the
'balance of power.' When most tribes were armed with muskets and better
able to defend themselves, raids became less successful.

12. HOMEWORK