A kāinga (
Southern Māori ''kaika'' or ''kaik'') is the traditional form of village habitation of pre-European
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. It was unfortified or only lightly fortified, and over time became less important to the well-defended
pā.
Description
Kāinga were generally unfortified or only lightly fortified, as opposed to the well-defended pā. They were generally coastal, and often found near to a river mouth. The settlement was generally occupied by members of one ''
hapū
In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...
'' (sub-tribe), which would identify itself with the nearest mountain and river (even in modern
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
, when meeting someone new, "what is your mountain?" is not an unusual question).
Kāinga were often regarded as only semi-permanent settlements, and they were often abandoned. Reasons for abandonment included invasion by other
iwi
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...
or resource shortages. Traditionally, Māori were often semi-nomadic, with entire communities moving at harvest or to hunt, using the kāinga as a stable home base. An entire settlement could be declared ''
tapu'' on the death of a tribal elder, with its inhabitants moving to a new location nearby.
Takapūneke
Takapūneke, with the location also known as Red House Bay, is a former kāinga—an unfortified Māori village—adjacent to present-day Akaroa, New Zealand. Takapūneke was a major trading post for the local iwi (tribe), Ngāi Tahu, as there w ...
near present-day
Akaroa
Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name. The name Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for "Long Harbour", which would be spelled in standard ...
, for example, was subject to a massacre in 1830. Survivors mostly lived in nearby
Ōnuku and Takapūneke having been declared a sacred site, it was avoided by the local hapu for over 100 years.
When European whalers arrived in New Zealand and established bases, kāinga would often shift to near the newcomers so that trading would be easier.
Modern use of the word
In modern Māori, ''kāinga'' is the word for "home".
See also
*
Marae
A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...
*
Pā
References
{{reflist
Māori society
Māori culture
Māori words and phrases
Former populated places in New Zealand
Lands inhabited by indigenous peoples