Te Kooti's War
| Te Kooti's War | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of New Zealand Wars | |||||
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| Belligerents | |||||
| New Zealand Government Ngāti Porou Māori Ngāti Kahungunu Māori |
Māori Ringatū adherents Māori Pai Mārire adherents Ngāi Tūhoe Māori Ngati Hineuru Māori |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Colonel George Whitmore Major Thomas McDonnell Major Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui Major Ropata Wahawaha Major William Mair Hotene Porourangi Captain Gilbert Mair Henare Tomoana Renata Kawepo |
Te Kooti | ||||
Te Kooti's War was among the last of the New Zealand wars, the series of 19th century conflicts between the Māori and the colonising European settlers. It was fought in the East Coast region and across the heavily forested central North Island and Bay of Plenty between New Zealand government military forces and followers of spiritual leader Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki.
The conflict was sparked by Te Kooti's return to New Zealand after two years of internment on the Chatham Islands, from where he had escaped with almost 200 Māori prisoners of war and their families. Te Kooti, who had been held without trial on the island for two years, told the government he and his followers wished to be left in peace and would fight only if pursued and attacked. But two weeks after their return to New Zealand, members of Te Kooti's party found themselves being pursued by a force of militia, government troops and Māori volunteers. Te Kooti's force routed them in an ambush, seizing arms, ammunition, food and horses. The engagement was the first in what became a four-year guerrilla war, involving more than 30 expeditions by colonial and Māori troops against Te Kooti's dwindling number of warriors.
Although initially fighting defensively against pursuing government forces, Te Kooti went on the offensive from November 1868, starting with the so-called Poverty Bay massacre, a well-organised lightning strike against selected European settlers and Māori opponents in the Matawhero district, in which 51 men, women and children were slaughtered and their homes set alight. The attack prompted another vigorous pursuit by government forces, which included a siege at Ngatapa pā that came to a bloody end: although Te Kooti escaped the siege, Māori forces loyal to the government caught and executed more than 130 of his supporters, as well as prisoners he had earlier seized.
Dissatisfied with the Māori King Movement's reluctance to continue its fight against European invasion and confiscation, Te Kooti offered Māori an Old Testament vision of salvation from oppression and a return to a promised land. Wounded three times in battle, he gained a reputation for being immune to death, uttered prophecies that had the appearance of being fulfilled, and developed an image of a mighty warrior riding a white horse, reflecting themes of Christian Apocalypticism.
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Wikipedia