Kawiti

Te Ruki Kawiti (1770s – 5 May 1854) was a prominent Māori rangatira (chief). He and Hōne Heke successfully fought the British in the Flagstaff War in 1845–46.

He traced descent from Rāhiri and Nukutawhiti of the Ngātokimatawhaorua canoe, the ancestors of the Ngāpuhi. He was born in the north of New Zealand into the Ngāti Hine hapu, one of the subtribes of the Ngāpuhi. From his youth he was trained in leadership and warfare by Hongi Hika. He was present at the Battle of Moremonui in 1807 or 1808 when many Ngāpuhi were slaughtered by Ngāti Whātua. Almost twenty years later, in 1825, he was at the Battle of Te Ika-a-ranga-nui when it was Ngāpuhi's turn to slaughter Ngāti Whātua in an act of utu or revenge. He took a number of Ngāti Whātua captive and refused to hand them over to Hongi Hika, preferring instead to return them to their own people to whom he was related.

Kawiti initially refused to sign the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840, believing that it would inevitably lead to further European encroachment and the loss of Māori land. However he eventually yielded to pressure from his own people and signed the Treaty in May 1840, right at the top, above those chiefs who had signed earlier.

However he soon grew disenchanted with British law and supported Hōne Heke in his protests against British rule. Hōne Heke sought support from Kawiti and other leaders of the Ngāpuhi iwi by the conveying of ‘te ngākau’, the custom observed by those who sought help to settle a tribal grievance.

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