Rāwiri Tareahi (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1820–1850) was the principal leader of the Ngāti Hinepare subtribe of the

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative di ...

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 ...

(

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 ...

tribe), in

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

, New Zealand. He was born Tareahi in the late 18th century, probably at the Ngāti Hinepare settlement of Te Poraiti, on the western shore of

Ahuriri Lagoon Ahuriri Lagoon ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Orotū) was a large tidal lagoon at Napier, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, that largely drained when the area was raised by the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Before the earthquake, the lagoon ...

, near what became the European settlement of Napier. His mother was Te Huripatu, of Ngāti Hinepare, and his father was Waitaringa, of Ngāi Tākaha, a hapū that lived on the upper

Ngaruroro River The Ngaruroro River is located in the eastern North Island of New Zealand. It runs for a total of 164 kilometres southeast from the Kaweka Range, Kaimanawa Range and Ruahine Range and then east before emptying into Hawke Bay roughly halfway betwe ...

. In the early 18th century Tareahi led Ngāti Hinepare warriors to victory in the battle of Taitimuroa, thus becoming recognised as the principal leader of Ngāti Hinepare. In the early 1820s, during the

Musket Wars The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an intertribal arms ra ...

, northern tribes threatened the Ngāti Kahungunu of Heretaunga (Hawke's Bay) and many of them moved to refuge at Nukutaurua, on

Māhia Peninsula Māhia Peninsula (Maori: or ) is located on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, in the Hawke's Bay region, between the towns of Wairoa and Gisborne. Rocket Lab has set up its Launch Complex 1 close to Ahuriri Point at the southe ...

. Tareahi and others, however, stayed to defend their home area. The musket-bearing tribes of

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 ...

Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua (Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North Isla ...

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi (tribe) based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back to people who arrived in New Zealand on the ...

and

Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Raukawa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Waikato, Taupo and Manawatu/Horowhenua regions of New Zealand. In 2006, 29,418 Māori registered their affiliation with Ngāti Raukawa. History Early history Ngāti Raukawa reco ...

attacked and massacred the tribes of Ahuriri. Tareahi and others were captured alive and taken to the Waikato. He was released and returned home 18 months later. With many Ngāti Kahungunu still at Māhia, Heretaunga was deserted, but he remained, settling near Ōingo Lake. Tareahi had several children – a son Porokoru Mapu, daughters Hepora, Ani Kanara Marewa and Rawinia Kaingaroa, and son Pāora Kaiwhata. He was baptised by the missionary

William Colenso William Colenso (17 November 1811 – 10 February 1899) FRS was a Cornish Christian missionary to New Zealand, and also a printer, botanist, explorer and politician. He attended the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and later wrote an accou ...

in the late 1840s, taking the Christian name Rāwiri (David). Rāwiri Tareahi died at Te Poraiti, possibly in the 1850s.

References

Year of birth unknown 1850s deaths Ngāti Kahungunu people {{Māori-bio-stub