Muaūpoko is a Māori

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

on the Kāpiti Coast of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Muaūpoko are descended from the ancestor Tara, whose name has been given to many New Zealand landmarks, most notably Te Whanganui-a-Tara (

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

). His people were known as Ngāi Tara, although more recently they took the name Muaūpoko, meaning the people living at the head (''ūpoko'') of the fish of

Māui Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity ( demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main expl ...

(that is, the southernmost end of the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

.) Muaūpoko's traditional area is in the Horowhenua/Kāpiti Coast/Wellington region. In the early nineteenth century Ngāi Tara were a large iwi occupying the area between the

Tararua Range The Tararua Range, often referred to as the Tararua Ranges or Tararua, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. The Tararua Range runs northeast–southwest for from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of ...

s in the east and the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

in the west, from Sinclair Head in the south to the Rangitīkei River in the north. Some

hapū In Māori language, 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 ...

had even settled in Queen Charlotte Sound in the 17th century.

History

According to the Horowhenua Commission of 1896, which inquired into the Lake Horowhenua domain, the Muaūpoko were defeated after violent conflict with

Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, also called Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori people, Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and the northern South Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Toa remains a small iwi with a population of ...

and Ngāti Raukawa from the north, and were almost exterminated. They were driven into "the fastnesses of the hills", or forced to take refuge with the

Whanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...

and other tribes. In the 2012 New Zealand High Court case of ''Taueki v Police'', concerning a protest at Lake Horowhenua, Justice Kós stated that the "scars of that battle remain livid today."''Taueki v Police'' 012NZHC 3538 at

References

External links

Muaūpoko
in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Muaūpoko Tribal Authority
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muaupoko Iwi and hapū

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links