Te Rauangaanga (sometimes written Te Rau-angaanga or Te Rau-anga-anga) was the chief of the
Ngāti Mahuta
Ngāti Mahuta is a sub-tribe (or hapū) of the Waikato tribe (or iwi) of Māori in the North Island of New Zealand. The territory (rohe) of Ngāti Mahuta is the Kawhia and Huntly areas of the Waikato region.
History
Ngāti Mahuta is descended f ...
tribe of the
Waikato tribal confederation and principal war chief of the confederation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His son
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (died 25 June 1860) was a Māori warrior, leader of the Waikato iwi (confederation of tribes), the first Māori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known just as ''Te Wherowhero'' and took the ...
became the first
Maori king.
[
]
Biography
Family
Te Rau-angaanga belonged to the senior chiefly line of Ngāti Mahuta. His father was Tuata, whose father was Tawhia-ki-te-rangi, whose father was Te Putu, the chief who lived at Taupiri '' pā'' on Taupiri mountain.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 ...
'' (subtribe) 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 ...
.[
]
Career
Te Rau-angaanga was regarded as a great military tactician mainly because of the successful defence of his lands from attack by coastal 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 ...
people led by Pikauterangi in the early 1790s. Pikauterangi, of Ngāti Toa
Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its ''rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmerston N ...
, had formed a coalition of southern and eastern tribes to invade the Waikato. His army mustered some 10,000 warriors according to the oral tradition of the Waikato people. Te Rau-angaanga was only able to muster 3,000 warriors, but defeated and repelled the army facing him just south of Ohaupo, half way between Hamilton and Te Awamutu, at the Battle of Hingakaka
The Battle of Hingakākā (sometimes written ''Hiringakaka'') was fought between two Māori armies of the North Island, near Te Awamutu and Ohaupo in the Waikato in the late 18th or early 19th centuries, and was reputedly "the largest battle ev ...
, considered to be the largest battle ever fought on the 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 ...
mainland.[
Twenty years later Te Rau-angaanga commanded 1,600 Waikato warriors who captured the ''pā'' of Ngāti Toa leader ]Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha (c.1768 – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars, receiving the nickname "the Napoleon of the South". He was influential in the original ...
at Hikuparea on Kāwhia Harbour
Kawhia Harbour (Maori: ''Kāwhia'') is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southw ...
. In 1819 he captured Te Totara ''pā'' at Kāwhia.
References
*Crosby, R.D. (1999). ''The Musket Wars,'' Reed Publishing NZ, p. 82-83.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Rauangaanga
18th-century monarchs in Oceania
Ngāti Mahuta people
Waikato Tainui people