Ngāti Māhanga is a

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 ...

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 ...

(tribe) that is part of the

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

confederation of tribes (now called

Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato. There are oth ...

). The tribe's historical lands extended from Whaingaroa Harbour (Raglan Harbour) to the west bank of the

Waikato River The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for through the North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and flowing through Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake. It th ...

in the city of

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's fou ...

. The Waikato land confiscation of 1864 meant that Ngāti Māhanga and their associated

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 ...

were pushed to west of the

Waipā River The Waipā River is in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. The headwaters are in the Rangitoto Range east of Te Kuiti. It flows north for , passing through Ōtorohanga and Pirongia, before flowing into the Waikato River at ...

Māhanga, the ancestor

Ngāti Māhanga is named after Māhanga, a Waikato chief and an 11th generation descendant of Hoturoa, the navigator of

waka. Māhanga lived approximately 15 generations ago and was the son of Tūheitia and Te Ataihaea. Current Maori king

Tūheitia Paki Tūheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero VII (born Tūheitia Paki; 21 April 1955), crowned as Kīngi Tūheitia, is the Māori King. He is the eldest son of the previous Māori monarch, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, and was announced as her successo ...

is a namesake of the ancestor Tūheitia. Māhanga is a key ancestor of Waikato, as all the Waikato

trace their descent from him. Ngāti Māhanga however, is a particular reference to the descendants of his sons: Kiekieraunui, Tupanamaiwaho, Tonganui, Ruateatea and Atutahi. The main hapu of Ngāti Māhanga today are Ngāti Ruateatea, Ngāti Kuku, Ngāti Tonganui and Ngāti Hourua. In former times, there were upward of 20 hapū.

Pā/marae

Ngāti Māhanga have three pā (

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 ...

complex): Aramiro Pa (also referred to as Te Kaharoa Marae) in the Waitetuna Valley; Omaero Pa, in

Whatawhata Whatawhata, previously also spelt Whata Whata, is a small town in the Waikato region on the east bank of the Waipā River, at the junction of State Highways 23 and 39, from Hamilton. Te Araroa tramping route passes through Whatawhata. Histo ...

; and Te Papa-o-Rotu Marae, also in Whatawhata. Te Papa-o-Rotu Marae is considered to be the tribe's headquarters and is the venue of the annual

poukai The pouakai or poukai is a monstrous bird in Māori mythology. Mythologies In some of these legends, pouakai kill and eat humans. The myth may refer to the real but now extinct Haast's eagle: the largest known eagle species, which was able to ki ...

hosted by Ngāti Māhanga on 10 April. Te Papa-o-Rotu was renowned as the Whare Wananga o Waikato (traditional house of learning). In 2010 the numbers enrolled as Ngāti Māhanga on the Waikato-Tainui beneficiary roll were: Te Papa-o-Rotu 2,214, Te Papatapu 1,831, Aramiro 896, Mōtakotako 607 and Ō-maero 481.

Notable people

* Melanie Drewery (born 1970), children's book author and illustrator *

Wiremu Neera Te Awaitaia Wiremu Neera Te Awaitaia (c.1796 – 27 April 1866) was a Māori chief in New Zealand during first contact with European traders, the 1820s Musket Wars up to the 1860s New Zealand Wars. Born in or around 1796 into the Waikato Tribe of Ngāti ...

(c.1796–1866), chief * Waata Roore Erueti (1868–1952), historian

Notes

{{Reflist, 33em Iwi and hapū