Tangata Whenua

Tangata whenua (Māori pronunciation: [ˈtaŋata ˈfɛnʉ.a]) is a Māori term of the indigenous peoples of New Zealand and literally means "people of the land", from , 'people' and 'land'.

According to Williams' definitive Dictionary of the Māori Language, tangata means "man" or "human being", whilst tāngata (with the long ā) is the plural meaning "people"; tangata (without the macron) can also mean "people" in reference to a group with a singular identity. Whenua means both "land" and "placenta" (again referencing Williams, who lists five definitions). It is an ancient Austronesian word with cognates across the Malayo-Polynesian world, from Malay benua, Visayan *banwa and to Rapa Nui henua. Unlike European thought where people own land, in Māori the land is regarded as a mother to the people. The relationship to land is not dissimilar to that of the foetus to the placenta. In addition, there are certain Māori rituals involving burying the afterbirth of a newborn in ancestral land, which may further shed light on the use of the word whenua for both land and placenta.

The indigenous peoples of New Zealand may be divided into three levels of kinship, on which traditional governance was based.

The numerically smallest level, whānau, is what Westerners would consider the extended family, perhaps descended from a common great-grandparent. Traditionally a whānau would hold in common their food store (their forest or bush for hunting birds and gathering or growing plant foods, and a part of the sea, a river or a lake for gathering eel, fish, shellfish and other foods). These food stores were fiercely protected and when one's resources could no longer support the growing whānau, war with a neighbouring tribe might eventuate.

The next level, hapū (sub-tribe) is a group of several related whānau, and traditionally was the primary governance unit. In war and when decisions needed to be made in negotiations with outside tribes, the whānau leaders would gather and the hapū would make the decisions.

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