This timeline sets out intertribal battles involving
Māori people in what is now
New Zealand.
Pre-colonial time (c. 1350 to 1839)
16th century
*
Ngāti Hotu
Ngāti Hotu was a Māori tribe that, according to tradition, lived in the central North Island of New Zealand in the area surrounding southern Lake Taupō, where the Ngāti Tūwharetoa tribe now resides.
Ngāti Hotu were believed to have been par ...
suffered a major defeat at the battle of
Pukekaikiore ('hill of the meal of rats') to the southwest of
Lake Taupo where
Ngāti Tūwharetoa devastated them, causing the few survivors to flee.
*
The battle of the five forts at
Kakahi: The Ngāti Hotu set up a ring of five forts around Kakahi which the Whanganui Māori attacked and took one by one until finally the last two, Otutaarua and Arikipakewa, fell. The final, brutal episode of the battle was played out on the flats between Kakahi and the
Whanganui river.
17th century
* 1642, Dec: Four of
Tasman
Tasman most often refers to Abel Tasman (1603–1659), Dutch explorer.
Tasman may also refer to:
Animals and plants
* Tasman booby
* Tasman flax-lily
* Tasman parakeet (disambiguation)
* Tasman starling
* Tasman whale
People
* Tasman (name), ...
's crew are killed at Wharewharangi (Murderers) Bay by a
Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri
Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, who arrived on the ''Kurahaupō'' waka. In the 1600s the iwi settled northwestern South Island, becoming a major power in the region until the 1800s. In 1642, members of Ngāti Tūmat ...
war party. Tasman's ships are approached by 11
waka as he leaves and his ships fire on them, hitting a Māori standing in one of the waka. Tasman's ships depart without landing. The Dutch chart the west of the
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
.
18th century
* c. 1741, Te-Rangi-hinganga-tahi ("the day when all fell together"), also known as The Battle of Paruroa. The battle near
Parau in the lower
Waitākere Ranges, where paramount chief of
Waiohua,
Kiwi Tāmaki, was defeated by the
Te Taoū hapū of
Ngāti Whātua, led by Waha-akiaki, Tūperiri and Waitaheke. This battle signified the end of Waiohua hegemony in the
Auckland isthmus.
* c. 1740s: the final major battle between Ngāti Whātua and Waiohua at
Māngere Mountain. The few regrouped Waiohua forces, led by Mahitokotoko and Mahikourona, scattered shells around the base of the pā on top of Māngere Mountain, to warn the warriors of any invading forces. A Ngāti Whātua war party led by Tūperiri attacked the pā by stealth, by placing tōpuni (dog skin cloaks) on top, to muffle the sounds of the shells.
After the battle, Tūperiri began to settle central
Tāmaki Makaurau, leading to the birth of
Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei.
The names Te Ara Tōpuni or Te Ara Pūeru ("the road of cloaks") can refer to this battle, or describe the site on Māngere Mountain where the battle occurred.
* 1772, 12 Jun:
Marion du Fresne is killed at
Tacoury's Cove,
Bay of Islands by local Māori.
* 1773, 18 Dec: A skirmish at
Grass Cove
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous Family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species culti ...
in
Queen Charlotte Sound results in the deaths of two Māori and nine members of
Cook's expedition.
* c. 1790s: The
Battle of Hingakaka (sometimes ''Hiringakaka'') was fought between two Māori armies, an allied southern North Island army and a Tainui alliance army, near
Ōhaupō
Ōhaupō is a rural community in the Waipa District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located on State Highway 3, about halfway between Hamilton and Te Awamutu.
The Ōhaupō area and surrounding Ngāhinapōuri, Te Rore a ...
in the
Waikato in the late 18th or early 19th centuries, and was reputedly "the largest battle ever fought on New Zealand soil". - So many chiefs died in the battle that it is known as ''Hingakaka'' (the fall of parrots).
*Late 1700s: Tūhuru, chief of Ngāti Waewae (a hapu of
Ngāi Tahu) defeats
Ngāti Wairangi in a battle at Kōtukuwhakaoho (
Stillwater, West Coast
Stillwater is a town in the South Island of New Zealand east of Greymouth on the banks of the Grey River, at the confluence with the Arnold River, in the Grey District of the West Coast, next to Brunner. There is also a Stillwater, Auckland in ...
), securing Ngāi Tahu control over
pounamu on the West Coast.
19th century pre 1839
* 1807-1845: The
Musket Wars were a series of three thousand or more battles and raids fought in
New Zealand and the
Chatham Islands amongst
Māori between 1807 and 1845, after Māori obtained
musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...
s.
**1807 or 1808:
Ngapuhi fight
Ngāti Whātua,
Te Uri-o-Hau and
Te Roroa iwi at the
battle of Moremonui on the west coast of
Northland, the first battle in which Māori used
muskets.
**1821:
Battle of Okoki with
Potatau Te Wherowhero.
Te Hiakai was shot in the battle.
**1825: The battle of Te Ika-a-ranganui between Ngapuhi and hapu against Ngatiwhatua, resident occupiers of the land fought upon. It was a battle of
Utu.
*c. 1810s:
Ngāi Tahu defeats
Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri
Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, who arrived on the ''Kurahaupō'' waka. In the 1600s the iwi settled northwestern South Island, becoming a major power in the region until the 1800s. In 1642, members of Ngāti Tūmat ...
in a battle at Kōtukuwhakaoho (
Stillwater, West Coast
Stillwater is a town in the South Island of New Zealand east of Greymouth on the banks of the Grey River, at the confluence with the Arnold River, in the Grey District of the West Coast, next to Brunner. There is also a Stillwater, Auckland in ...
),
at which Tūhuru, chief of Ngāti Waewae, kills the paramount chiefs of Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri, Te Pau and Te Kokihi, leaving Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri lands in the north-west South Island to be divided between Ngāi Tahu,
Ngāti Apa and
Ngāti Kuia.
Post-colonial time (1839-1872)
19th century post 1839
*
New Zealand Wars
**1842, Jun 17:
Wairau Affray
**1845, Mar 11:
Flagstaff War
** The
Battle of Ohaeawai was fought between British forces and local
Māori during the
Flagstaff War in July 1845 at Ohaeawai.
**c. 1846, May:
Hutt Valley Campaign
***1846, Aug 6–13:
Battle of Battle Hill
The Battle Hill engagement took place from 6 to 13 August 1846, during the New Zealand Wars and was one of the last engagements of the Hutt Valley Campaign.
The engagement was between Ngāti Toa on one side and a colonial force of European troop ...
. British troops, local militia and kūpapa pursued a
Ngāti Toa force led by chief
Te Rangihaeata through steep and dense bushland.
**1857, Apr 16:
Wanganui Campaign
The Whanganui campaign was a brief round of hostilities in the North Island of New Zealand as indigenous Māori fought British settlers and military forces in 1847. The campaign, which included a siege of the fledgling Whanganui settlement (t ...
**1860, Mar to 1861, Mar:
First Taranaki War
**1863, Jul to 1864, Apr:
Invasion of the Waikato
***1863, Nov 20–21: The
Battle of Rangiriri was a major engagement in the
invasion of Waikato. More than 1400 British troops defeated about 500 warriors of the
Kingitanga (Māori King Movement).
**1864: War in the
Waikato ends with battle of
Ōrākau.
**1864: The
Ohura Fight of 1864 - "This was probably the last purely Maori apart from European organisation in New Zealand"
The Journal of the Polynesian Society - Vol. 35**1864, Apr 29:
Tauranga Campaign
**1863, May 4:
Second Taranaki War
**1865, April to 1866, Oct:
East Cape War
**1868, Jun to 1869, Mar:
Titokowaru's War
**1868, Jul to 1872, May:
Te Kooti's War
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline of Maori battles
Māori history
Wars involving New Zealand
Wars involving the states and peoples of Oceania
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