The Ngāti Tūwharetoa invasion of Taupō was a conflict which took place in the sixteenth century on the east coast of

Lake Taupō Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's northeastern shore. With ...

in the central

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 ...

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 ...

. The conflict marks the beginning of

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 ...

's expansion into the Taupō region. In response to an insult, Ngāti Tūwharetoa attacked Ngāti Kurapoto, based on the northeastern coast of Taupō. In the course of the conflict, Ngāti Tūwharetoa also attacked

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 p ...

at the south end of Lake Taupō. Different sources give diverging accounts on some details, but agree that the war ended with Ngāti Tūwharetoa in control of the whole eastern shore of Taupō. Ngāti Kurapoto was subsumed into Tūwharetoa, while Ngāti Hotu was wiped out, either in the course of the conflict or in a subsequent conflict. Tūwharetoa control of the west coast of the lake was established in the subsequent

Ngāti Tama–Ngāti Tūwharetoa War The Ngāti Tama–Ngāti Tūwharetoa War was a conflict which took place around 1600 on the west coast of Lake Taupō in the central North Island of New Zealand, in which Ngāti Tūwharetoa fought against the Ngāti Tama iwi and a part of the Ng� ...

Origins

The first people to settle around Lake Taupō were Ngāti Hotu. Under the leadership of Kawhea, Hei-marama, and Rongomai-tuteaka, Ngāti Kurapoto, part of the Arawa tribal confederacy, invaded and seized the northern and eastern shores of the lake from Tupuae-haruru Bay (site of modern

Taupō Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town located in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the edge of Lake Taupō, which is the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand. Taupō was constituted as a borough in 1953. It h ...

township) to

Tauranga Taupō Tauranga Taupō is a semi-rural area located at the mouth of Tauranga Taupō River, on the southern shores of Lake Taupō in New Zealand's North Island. Settlements The area includes three contiguous settlements: Oruatua, near the mouth of the ...

, leaving Ngāti Hotu with only the southern coast of the lake. Ngāti Tūwharetoa, also part of the Arawa confederacy, and descendants of

Ngātoro-i-rangi In Māori tradition, Ngātoro-i-rangi (Ngātoro) is the name of a tohunga (priest) prominent during the settling of New Zealand (Aotearoa) by the Māori people, who came from the traditional homeland Hawaiki on the '' Arawa'' canoe. He is the anc ...

, one of the first two Māori to visit the Taupō region, were settled at this time in the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

region. After years of conflict Tūwharetoa and his ally Tūtewero son of Maruka had established control of a region encompassing Ōtamarākau, the Awa-o-te-atua (

Tarawera River The Tarawera River is in the Bay of Plenty Region in the North Island of New Zealand. It flows from Lake Tarawera, northeastwards across the northern flanks of the active volcano Mount Tarawera, and past the town of Kawerau before turning north, ...

), and

Kawerau Kawerau is a town in the Bay of Plenty Region on the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated 100 km south-east of Tauranga and 58 km east of Rotorua. It is the seat of the Kawerau District Council, and the only town in Kawerau Distr ...

. Tūwharetoa was by this point an elderly man, with many children and grandchildren.

Battles of Kaka-tarae

Hatupere, leader of the Marangaranga or Maruiwi people, decided to attack Tūtewero, but was handily defeated by him and fled to

Te Whaiti Te Whaiti or Te Whāiti, formerly called Ahikereru, is a forested area in the Whakatāne District and Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is at the northern end of the Ahikereru valley – Minginui is at the southern end. ...

and the

Kaweka Range The Kaweka Range (also known as the ''Kaweka Ranges'') of mountains is located in inland Hawke's Bay in the eastern North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) of New Zealand. It forms part of the mountainous spine of the North Island which extends from Welli ...

. Ngāti Tūwharetoa were ashamed that this conflict had taken place without them, so Tūwharetoa's sons Rakahopukia, Rākei-poho, Rākei-makaha, Taniwha-paretuiri, and Rongomai-te-ngangana formed a war party of 240 men and attacked the Marangaranga / Maruiwi at Kaka-tarae near

Runanga Lake Runanga Lake is one of several small lakes (the others including Oingo Lake and Potaka Lake) located to the northwest of the city of Hastings in the Hawke's Bay Region of the eastern North Island of New Zealand. Water from the lake flows into ...

. They suffered a terrible defeat. Only 140 men of Ngāti Tūwharetoa survived. Of the leaders, Rongomai-te-ngangana, and Rākei-poho or Matangi-kai-awha were killed. Moreover, there had been many women in the party, who were taken prisoner, notably Taniwha-pare-tuiri. Maruiwi and Pa-kaumoana took the dead to Purotu on the

Mohaka River The Mohaka river is on the North Island of New Zealand in the east central region of Hawke’s Bay. Mohaka is a Māori language, Maori word, roughly translated it means “place for dancing”. The iwi (Māori tribes) associated with the Mohaka R ...

, where they were piled up in an oven and cooked, leading to the place names Whā-tihi ('pile up') and Umu-ariki ('oven of chieftains'). Locke reports that the

tohunga In the culture of the Māori people, Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga (tōhuka in Southern Māori dialect) is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. Tohunga include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, ...

, Takatore, performed a special ritual at Ahi-o-ngatāne, in which he killed a

kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), an informal name for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible hairy fruit with many seeds * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of curren ...

and offered half to the

atua Atua are the gods and spirits of the Polynesian people such as the Māori or the Hawaiians (see also ). The literal meaning of the Polynesian word is "power" or "strength" and so the concept is similar to that of '' mana''. Many of the atua ...

and half to

Papatūānuku In Māori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatūānuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world and the Māori people (though there are many different versions). In some South Island dialects, Ran ...

, the Tūwharetoa were able to avenge their defeat by a surprise attack on the Marangaranga at Rarauhi-papa, in which they captured the women back and killed around two hundred enemy men. Te Hata reports that the defeat at Kaka-tarae was avenged as a result of the ''makutu'' or ''whakanania'' ritual, in which an enemy warrior was captured, his heart was offered to the

, and then the tohunga sang a

karakia Karakia are Māori incantations and prayer used to invoke spiritual guidance and protection.''pū kaea'' trumpet to announce their presence to the Ngāti Kurapoto. This sound enraged the priestess Hine-kaho-roa shouted out the ''Pokokohua-ma'' (mummified heads curse), but the Tūwharetoa continued to blow the trumpet and shouted out, "Your brains, your brains!" (turning the curse back on her), and then she said, "I will make the bones of your ancestors Rangitu and Tangaroa like my fernroot" (i.e. treating them both as food). According to Te Hata, the Tūwharetoa forces fleeing their defeat at Kakatare, came to Waiaruhe, a spring of the Wai-tahanui stream, east of Taupō. Finding fernroot there, they ate it all, not realising that it belonged to the priestess Hine-kaharoa. When she found out she angrily said "Leave the fernroot, the bones of Rangitu and Tangaroa." Either way, the Tūwharetoa departed and reported what had happened to the old chief Tūwharetoa at Kawerau. A special sacred force was summoned to Kawerau by Tūwharetoa, who neutralised the curse by sacrificing a lizard, but now Tūwharetoa felt compelled to send an expedition against Ngāti Kurapoto to avenge the insult represented by the curse.

Invasion of Taupō

The force marched inland to 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 ...

, then continued to Takapau, where they split into two war parties, one of which attacked Ngāti Kurapoto in the northeast and the other of which attacked Ngāti Hotu in the southeast. Locke and Te Hata give substantially different accounts of both of these attacks.

Attack on Ngāti Kurapoto

According to Locke, the party that invaded the northeast was led by Taniwha-paretuiri's son Rongo-Patuiwi, Rākei-poho's son Taringa, and Rongo-Patuiwi's son

Waikari Waikari is a small town in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. Its Anglican parish church is the Church of Ascension, 79 Princes Street, Waikari, where William Orange was vicar in the 1920s. The New Zealand Ministry for Cult ...

. They led their force past Aputahou and

Mount Tauhara Mount Tauhara is a dormant lava dome volcano in New Zealand's North Island, reaching above sea level. It is situated in the area of caldera rim overlap of the Whakamaru Caldera and Taupō Volcano towards the centre of the Taupō Volcanic Zone ...

, coming to the shore of Lake Taupō at

Waipahihi Waipahihi () is a suburb in Taupō, based on the eastern shores of Lake Taupō on New Zealand's North Island. The local Waipahīhī Marae is a meeting place of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapū of Ngāti Hinerau and Ngāti Hineure. It includes t ...

and Wharewaka, then travelled south to Lake Rotongaio, where they encountered a

called Kurimanga, whom they killed and cooked in an oven, giving the place the name Umu-kuri ('Kuri's oven'). The next day they took the fortresses of Tara-o-te-Marama and Pa-powhatu, killing many Ngāti Kurapoto, but allowing the rest to flee towards

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

. Locke mentions that some descendants of Kurapoto still existed as of 1882. According to Te Hata, the force was led by Rākei-poho and Taringa and although they besieged Tara-o-te-Marama, they were unable to take it, so they made peace and offered a sacrifice of seventy dogs as compensation for eating Hine-kaharoa's fern root, thereby giving rise to the name Umu-kuri ('dogs' oven'). Te Hata says that the war party then carried on south down the coast to Toka-anu, without attacking any settlements. According to Te Hata, the surviving Ngāti Kurapoto remained in northeastern Taupō and intermarried with the Tūwharetoa settlers, gradually being subsumed into them. The memory of Ngāti Kurapoto is maintained by the Tūwharetoa marae at

, which is named Kurapoto.

Attack on Ngāti Hotu

Locke and Te Hata agree that the party which attacked the southeast was led by Rereao, a son of Tūwharetoa. According to Locke, he reached Lake Taupō at the Kotipu River, where the force encountered a woman called Monoao and killed her as a sacrifice. The party continued past Tuariki to

, where the Ngāti Hotu were living, along with some of the Ngāti Kurapoto. They fought a battle at Kanihinuhi, at which one ''rangatira'' was killed, and another, Kurawaha, was captured (He survived because Rereao's daughter, Ata-iwi-kura, interceded on his behalf and married him). Rereao continued to One-mara-rangi and found that the Ngāti Hotu had gathered in a fortress at Kakapakia, which he attacked, killing two hundred men, including the ''rangatira'' Tipapa-kereru. An enormous oven was built, which was able to cook 140 of them at once – this "long oven of Rereao" became proverbial. This was the end of Rereao's military campaign, but he continued travelling around, establishing ''tūāhu'' altars in order to take control of the land at Motiti, Te Kotuku-o, Rereao, Te Kowiti-o-Rereao, Te Pungarehu-o-Rereao, and Pukawa-o-Rereao, where he met up with the other war party.

Second attack on Ngāti Hotu

According to Te Hata, after the Battle at One-mara-rangi, Ngāti Hotu were completely wiped out and their lands were split between Ngāti Tuwharetoa and Ngāti Kurapoto. According to Locke, however, Ngāti Hotu still existed and Rereao agreed with the leaders of the war party that had been fighting in the northeast that it was best to make peace with the remnant of Ngāti Hotu. This peace was sealed by the marriage of a Tūwharetoa woman, Hineuru, to the Ngāti Hotu ''rangatira'' Paepaetehe. The Ngāti Hotu remnant were left with Motiti in the rough territory of the

Kaimanawa Range The Kaimanawa Range, officially called the Kaimanawa Mountains since 16 July 2020, is a range of mountains in the central North Island of New Zealand. They extend for 50 kilometres in a northeast–southwest direction through largely uninhabited ...

south of Taupō as their main centre and nursed a grievance against Tūwharetoa for the losses that they had suffered. Eventually, they attempted to take revenge for this grievance. When Hineuru’s brothers, Taumaihi, Puteketeke, and Rorotaka came to visit Motiti, Paepaetehe invited them in and pretended to prepare a feast, by placing feathers in their oven so that it would smell as if they were cooking birds, while really planning to massacre the visitors. However, Hineuru realised what was being planned and warned her brothers in time, and they managed to fight their way out. Puteketeke suffered a wound to the thigh, but all three brothers made it out alive, fleeing to Whaka-pou-karakia and from there to Taupō. Ngāti Tuwharetoa gathered a war party which marched south and fought an inconclusive battle with Ngāti Hotu. Afterwards, Waikari was sent to the Bay of Plenty to gather reinforcements and succeeded in gathering a force at Taupō, co-led by him and Tūtewero. They brought the

Rongomai with them. The war party split up into four sections: Taringa led a force to the Waimarino River; Karihi led a force to Whakapou-karakia; Tūtewero led another force; and Waikari led a fourth force. Waikari captured Ngau-i-taua-pa and massacred the inhabitants. Those members of Ngāti Hotu who survived fled to Tuhua and the Whanganui River (where they were wiped out by Whanganui Maori in the Battle of the Five Forts), leaving the area south of Lake Taupō to Ngāti Tuwharetoa.

References

Bibliography

* *{{cite journal , last1=Te Hata, first1=Hoeta, last2=Fletcher, first2=H. J., title=The Ngati-Tuhare-toa occupation of Taupo-nui-a-tia, journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society, volume=25, number=99, date=1916, pages=104–116 Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ngāti Hotu History of Waikato Lake Taupō 16th century in New Zealand 16th-century conflicts Māori intertribal wars