Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the South Island. Its rohe is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti, Mount Māhanga and Kahurangi Point in the north to Stewart Island / Rakiura in the south. The takiwā comprises 18 rūnanga corresponding to traditional settlements. According to the 2023 census an estimated 84,000 people affiliated with the Kāi Tahu iwi.
Ngāi Tahu originated in the Gisborne District of the North Island, along with Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu, who all intermarried amongst the local Ngāti Ira. Over time, all but Ngāti Porou would migrate away from the district. Several iwi were already occupying the South Island prior to Ngāi Tahu's arrival, with Kāti Māmoe only having arrived about a century earlier from the Hastings District, and already having conquered Waitaha, who themselves were a collection of ancient groups. Other iwi that Ngāi Tahu encountered while migrating through the South Island were Ngāi Tara, Rangitāne, Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri, and Ngāti Wairangi – all of which also migrated from the North Island at varying times. During the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of Europeans – mostly British – migrated to New Zealand. After European arrival, Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Rārua invaded Ngāi Tahu's territory with muskets. Some European settlers intermingled with native iwi populations, and today, most families who descend from Ngāi Tahu also have Ngāti Māmoe and British ancestry.
Ngāi Tahu translates as "People of Tahu", referencing the name of the ancestor Tahupōtiki. Alongside the other iwi that Ngāi Tahu absorbed, there are five primary hapū of Ngāi Tahu, which are: Ngāti Kurī, Ngāti Irakehu, Kāti Huirapa, Ngāi Tūāhuriri, and Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki. A branch of Ngāi Tūāhuriri and Ngāti Kurī, Kāi Te Rakiāmoa, was one of the latest hapū which the leading chiefs descended from.
History
Traditional origins
Ngāi Tahu trace their traditional descent from Tahupōtiki, the younger brother of Porourangi. The brothers are said to be descended from Paikea as grandsons, great-grandsons, or great-great-grandsons. Either way, Paikea himself is always Chief Uenuku's son. Some groups may even trace the brothers as great-grandsons of Uenuku's other son Ruatapu as well as with Paikea.Whatever the case, Tahupōtiki was born in Whāngārā, around 1450CE. He was given command of the Tākitimu Waka , and took it down to the South Island where he landed at the Arahura River on the West Coast – or at the Waiau River near Manapōuri. He stayed there for a time before travelling back to Whāngārā in a new canoe upon learning of the death of his brother. As according to ancient protocol, he took Porourangi's grieving wife Hamo-te-rangi as his own, by whom he had at least four sons: Ira-a-Tahu, Ira--roa, Tahumuri-hape, and Karimoe. Some say his other sons were Ira-manawa-piko, Rakaroa, Rakahurumanu, Tūroto, Tahutīoro, and Ruanuku.
Tahupōtiki, Ira-a-Tahu, Iraroa, and Tahumuri-hape moved south towards Tūranga, then settled at Maraetaha at the northern end of the Wharerātā Range. Karimoe instead moved northwards and settled at the banks of the Mangaheia stream, inwards of Ūawanui-a-Ruamatua. The family later moved to Iwitea, where Tahupōtiki built the Taumatahīnaki pā. The ancestor Te Matuahanga is still known in the area around there. More pā were established further inland along the Tukemōkihi block.
16th century
Owing to growing tensions between the various iwi inhabiting the surrounding area, many groups began their migration away from Waerenga-a-Hika in the Gisborne District. One of the earliest notable instances of tension was where Rākaihikuroa, grandson of Kahungunu, killed his own twin brothers out of jealousy, and was banished after his own son Tupurupuru was killed in revenge.Perhaps a more notable instance, is when Rākaihikuroa's other son Rākaipaaka was insulted by local Chief Tūtekohi who had invited him to his pā and then fed the prepared feast to his kurī Kauerehuanui. The visitors showed no reaction at the time, but after leaving, Whaitiripoto instructed Whakaruru-a-Nuku to go back and eat the dog in revenge. This action resulted in war against the Takutaioterangi pā and their allies.
A similar engagement occurred with Ngāi Tahu, involving Chief Rakawahakura, Whaitiripoto, and Whakaruru-a-Nuku. The fish and birds for this feast were actually cleverly carved chunks of wood, designed to give the impression of those foods being prepared in the storehouse. The later battle came to be known as Te Whataroa because of this. The children began playing games, enticing the adults to join in as a distraction while the hosts began to form their attack, even killing the visitors' dogs. Tūtekohi ultimately won, and so Ngāi Tahu was forced to move further down the North Island. Rakawahakura was later killed near Waikato.
17th century
Migration to Wellington
From Gisborne the iwi had moved down the coast to the Heretaunga. The ancestress Tūhaitara, senior granddaughter of Rakawahakura, insulting her husband Chief Marukore of Ngāti Māmoe, or Te Kāhea, and his ancestry, as well as various other exchanges are the reason for war between their two iwi. Tūhaitara herself had some Ngāti Māmoe heritage, but he was a local viewed as below her status. The pair had 11 children in total, including Tamaraeroa, Huirapa, Tahumatā, Pahirua and Hinehou. Huirapa is the son who Kāti Huirapa descends from.Tūhaitara's cousin through Rakawahakura, Kurī, also lived around this time. Just as Tūhaitara was the senior ancestress of Ngāi Tahu with her own hapū named after her, Ngāi Tūhaitara, Kurī is also the ancestor of the prominent Kāti Kurī hapū.
Tūhaitara instructed Tamaraeroa and Huirapa to kill Marukore at a place called Papanui. However, Marukore knew of their plan and defeated them in the Battle of Hūkete after which their sister Hinehou laid them on the floor of her whare for her grandchildren to see, and left her belongings with them before burning down the building in an incident now known as Kārara Kōpae. Alternatively, Marukore himself burned their bodies on a funeral pyre. Tamaraeroa's wife was killed as well, but they left a son named Te Aohuraki. Huirapa's son Marainaka also survived the fighting.
Next the brothers Pahirua and Tahumatā sought out to defeat Marukore. As they were about to take advice from a local chief named Rākaimoari, his daughter Hinewai-a-tapu made a remark about Tahumatā which sparked the Battle of Te Pakiaka that lasted for some days. It was named so because Tahumatā caught Hinewai-a-tapu hiding under some tree roots, and made her his wife.
Eventually the Ngāti Māmoe chief Hikaororoa managed to trap Marukore's party in a whare. Hikaororoa asked for the 'chief of the long plume' to come to the door to be cannibalised. Marukore's younger cousin Rokopaekawa took Marukore's headdress and was sacrificed instead. However he did not cook properly, and the headdress's plume was still visible in the dirt. This was considered a bad omen and so the body was discarded with the incident being called Pikitūroa.
Marukore and Tūhaitara would both die in the Battle of Tapapanui, at the hands of their son Pahirua who was very angry about the whole situation. In one telling of the series of battles, Hinehou and Pahirua built Kārara Kōpae together, and burnt the bodies of all the slain there. The remaining children of the warring parents would move down to a place called Te Oreorehua in Wairarapa where Hinehou was already living, and southward to Te Whanganui-a-Tara within a few generations.
Migration to the South Island
In Wellington Te Aohikuraki, the senior chief, slept with Rākaitekura while her husband Tūmaro was away visiting his family. Of this Te Hikutawatawa, the ancestor of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, was born illegitimate. Owing to Rākaitekura's high rank, Tūmaro was unable to kill her, so instead had her prepare herself for marriage with Te Aohikuraki. The stream where she did up her hair was called Koukourārata. Tūmaro gathered his family and departed for Waimea, near Nelson across the Cook Strait, leaving Rākaitekura and Te Hikutawatawa behind.Curiosity burning in him since childhood, when the other children would pick fun on him for being illegitimate, Te Hikutawatawa left Kaiwhakawaru seeking out his step-father. Upon his arrival to Waimea, Tūmaro's father Kahukura-te-paku, not knowing who he was, had intended to cannibalise him, but later put a stop to the meal preparations when local children heard Te Hikutawatawa muttering of his origins. Kahukura-te-paku then asked Te Hikutawatawa to climb through a window to remove the breach on Tapu, where he and Tūmaro greeted him with open arms. Te Hikutawatawa was still outraged at his Mana being defiled by Kahukura-te-paku, so he returned later to destroy the site and kill everyone who lived there. After this he was known as Tūāhuriri.
Late in the 17th century the iwi began migrating to the northern part of the South Island under the leadership of the Ngāti Kurī chief Pūrahonui, with his sons Makō-ha-kirikiri and Marukaitātea, establishing the Kaihinu pā in the Tory Channel / Kura Te Au. After an incident in which a Ngāi Tahu taua had desecrated the bones of one of Ngāi Tara's ancestors, Pūrahonui was murdered in revenge early one morning when he went to relieve himself. This broke out into a series of battles between the two iwi.
In the North Island, Hikaororoa, a prominent tribal member, attacked Te Mata-ki-kaipoinga pā after Tūāhuriri insulted him. Tūtekawa withdrew his men to attack at another angle after his younger relative recognised an insult from Hikaororoa. He sent the same relative to warn Tūāhuriri to escape, which he did into a nearby bush. For unknown reasons, when Tūtekawa entered the pā, he slew Tūāhuriri's wives Hinekaitaki and Tuarāwhati. After the battle, Tūtekawa fled down to Waikākahi on the shores of Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora where he lived amongst his fellow Ngāti Māmoe. Tūtekawa's own wife Tūkōrero was a sister to Tūāhuriri's other wife Hinetewai. He was also a first cousin to both the Ngāti Kurī chief Te Rakiwhakaputa, and to the Ngāti Māmoe leader Tukiauau.
On one occasion when Ngāti Kurī fought with Rangitāne, Chief Tūteurutira had mistaken one of his captives, Hinerongo, as one of the enemy's women. She was in fact a member of Ngāti Māmoe who had already been taken captive by Rangitāne, and so he returned her to the Matariki pā near Waiau Toa. This struck a new alliance between their iwi, after which they successfully attacked Rangitāne in the Wairau Valley. For this Ngāti Māmoe then ceded the east coast regions north of Waiau Toa to Ngāi Tahu, and Tūteurutira and Hinerongo married and settled at the pā.
In the Battle of Ōpokihi against Ngāti Māmoe, Marukaitātea was rescued by his brothers Makō-ha-kirikiri and Kahupupuni. At the Pariwhakatau pā near the Conway area, Makō-ha-kirikiri was with his sisters Te Apai and Tokerau, Manawa-i-waho's wives, when Tukiauau sneaked in and killed Manawa. The former three were spared by the protection of the guardian, Te Hineumutahi. However, they were forced to leave the pā through her legs.
By the 1690s Ngāi Tahu had settled in Canterbury, including Ngāti Kurī conquering the east coast down to Kaikōura, and Ngāti Irakehu peaceably settling among Banks Peninsula's Ngāti Māmoe. The last battle that was fought between the two iwi up to that point was the Battle of Waipapa, before Ngāti Kurī took the Takahanga pā. Marukaitātea chose to stay here, while other chiefs continued to push south. Around this time, the ariki Tūteāhuka was moving the last of the tribe's members to the South Island through the Cook Strait. As a consequence for ignoring Chief Te Aweawe's advice to strap two canoes together for a safer passage, Tūāhuriri is said to have been left to drown along with Tūmaro while trying to leave Wellington. It is very likely that Tūāhuriri's eldest son Hāmua also drowned, otherwise he might have died in Kaikōura at a young age.