Wiremu Kīngi Moki Te Matakātea (died 14 February 1893) was a principal chief and warrior of the Ngāti Haumiti

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 ...

(subtribe) of the 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. ...

(tribe) of

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known as

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

. Born probably in the

Taranaki region Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth ...

in the early years of the nineteenth century, Te Matakātea was first known as Moki. In the 1820s and 1830s he was caught up in his tribe's resistance to a series of Waikato raids. After a Waikato victory at Maru, at the base of Mount Taranaki, in 1826, he became the leader of some 120 men and their families who stayed within the protection of Te Namu pa, near Ōpunake, when the remainder of the Taranaki tribe migrated to the Kapiti coast about 1827. Moki and his people were able to obtain muskets from European

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traders who had settled at Ngamotu, near present-day New Plymouth, in 1828. When in 1833 Waikato laid siege to Te Namu, Moki distinguished himself by his marksmanship and received the name Te Matakātea, the clear-eyed. Waikato retreated but, sensing that this was only a temporary reprieve, Te Matakātea led his people a few miles south to a complex of three pa at the mouth of the Kapuni Stream, in the territory of his

Ngāti Ruanui Ngāti Ruanui is a Māori people, Māori iwi traditionally based in the Taranaki Region, Taranaki region of New Zealand. In the 2006 census, 7,035 people claimed affiliation to the iwi. However, most members now live outside the rohe, traditional ...

relatives. When the Waikato returned in 1836, Te Matakātea gathered Ngāti Ruanui, including his cousin Wiremu Hukunui Manaia, and successfully fought off the Waikato. Then in 1840, he was one of the leaders of the Taranaki tribes who assisted Ngā Rauru to fight off Iwikau Te Heuheu Tūkino III and

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 ...

. Te Matakātea was baptised a Christian on 24 October 1841, taking the name Wiremu Kīngi (William King).

References

Year of birth unknown 1893 deaths 19th-century Māori tribal leaders Taranaki (iwi) {{māori-bio-stub