Ngā Pākanga Whenua O Mua - The New Zealand Wars

War changed the face of Aotearoa in the 19th century

Updated October 17, 2023
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Dancing with the King : the rise and fall of the King Country, 1864-1885
Belgrave, Michael
After the battle of Orakau in 1864 and the end of the war in the Waikato, Tawhiao, the second Maori King, and his supporters were forced into an armed isolation in the Rohe Potae, the King Country. For the next twenty years, the King Country operated as an independent state - a land governed by the...
Wars without end : ngā pakanga whenua o mua, New Zealand's land wars : a Māori perspective
Keenan, Danny
From the earliest days of European settlement in New Zealand, Maori have struggled to hold on to their land. Tensions began early, arising from disputed land sales. When open conflict between Maori and Imperial forces broke out in the 1840s and 1860s, the struggles only intensified. For...
Wars without end : the land wars in nineteenth-century New Zealand
Keenan, Danny.
From the earliest days of European settlement in New Zealand, argues historian Danny Keenan, Maori struggled to hold on to their land. Tensions began early, arising from disputed land sales. When open conflict between Maori and Imperial forces broke out in the 1840s and 1860s, the struggles...
The New Zealand Wars = Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa
O'Malley, Vincent
The New Zealand Wars were a series of conflicts that profoundly shaped the course and direction of our nation's history. Fought between the Crown and various groups of Maori between 1845 and 1872, the wars touched many aspects of life in nineteenth century New Zealand, even in those regions spared...
Voices from the New Zealand wars = He reo nō ngā pakanga o Aotearoa
O'Malley, Vincent
Welcome to our story, this history. Wherever in the world the bones of your ancestors lie, wherever their ashes may have been dispersed, here you will find traces of them, and of yourself....It is, of course, a story of colonisation and resistance - and a history that has never stopped repeating....
Tutu te puehu : new perspectives on the New Zealand Wars
Crawford, John
Tutu te Puehu - Raising the dust on the New Zealand Wars. Edited by John Crawford and Ian McGibbon.
The New Zealand wars : a history of the Maori campaigns and the pioneering period
Cowan, James
"Brought up on the old Waipa frontier soon after the close of the wars, when an uneasy peace existed between European and Maori, James Cowan imbibed much ancient lore as well as recent history from old-time Maori chiefs and warriors. When commissioned by the Government to write this history, he not...

First published 1922-23. Of this book, NZHistory.net says "Until relatively recently this was the definitive account of the New Zealand Wars, and remains a classic. It is particularly notable for his use of both Māori and European oral sources." James Cowan died in 1943.

Find both volumes online at NZETC also - links further below

Access over thirty years of award-winning history and biography publishing from Bridget Williams Books - includes over New Zealand history 90 titles. Log in with your library card number and PIN. Search across titles with your subject keywords.

War changed the face of New Zealand in the 19th century. Tens of thousands of Māori may have died in the intertribal Musket Wars fought between the 1810s and the 1830s. Muskets revolutionised intertribal warfare, decimating some tribes and drastically shifting the boundaries of areas controlled by others. Thousands fled their traditional lands, complicating questions of ownership and opening large areas to potential Pākehā (European) settlement...

In the 1840s and 1860s conflict over sovereignty and land led to battles between government forces and some iwi Māori. The largest campaign was the clash between the Kīngitanga and the Crown. Land confiscations to punish iwi that fought against the Crown left a legacy of grievance. Story by Danny Keenan for Te Ara, The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand


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