Hapu

In Māoridom and New Zealand, a hapū ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society".

As named divisions of Māori iwi (tribes), hapū have membership determined by genealogical descent; a hapū comprises a number of whānau (extended family) groups.

In the 1870 census the Whakatohea tribe (iwi) of the Bay of Plenty had five named hapu ranging in size from 51 to 165 people. Some of their hapu were apparently over looked as an iwi register from 1874 showed two more hapu but these had small numbers 22 and 44. The hapu of this iwi ranged in size from 22 to 188. In 1874 hapu still had a small male to female imbalance overall with six of the seven iwi having far more males than females. In the four-year period between the census and the register all the hapu had grown significantly at a time when popular opinion was Maori population was in decline. Ngati Rua gained 8, Ngatipatu gained 28, Ngati Tama gained 63, Ngati Ira lost 4, Ngati Ngahere gained 17. These population gains were at a time when the iwi had land confiscated by the government for their support of various anti government movements. Some hapu in other iwi were larger. A Māori person can belong to or have links to many different hapū.

Before the arrival of Europeans in New Zealand the normal day-to-day operating group in Māori society seems to have been the smaller whānau (extended family). By the 1820s Māori had learnt the economic benefit of working in larger groups - especially when it came to trading with ships. The larger hapū could work more effectively to produce surplus flax, potatoes, smoked heads and pigs in exchange for blankets, tobacco, axes and trade muskets. In warfare the hapū operated as the standard grouping for warriors during the period of the Musket Wars (1807-1842). Hapū would unite politically under their own chief, to form much larger armies of up to several thousand warriors, although it was common for hapū to retain independence within the larger group.

Each hapū had its own chief and normally operated independently of the tribe (iwi) group.

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