Ngāpuhi
Ngāpuhi is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei.
According to the 2023 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 184,470. This compares to 125,601 in 2001, 102,981 in 2006, 122,214 in 2013. and 165,201 in 2018. It is formed from 150 hapū or subtribes, with 55 marae.
Despite such diversity, the people of Ngāpuhi maintain their shared history and self-identity. Te Rūnanga ā Iwi o Ngāpuhi, based in Kaikohe, administers the iwi. The Rūnanga acts on behalf of the iwi in consultations with the New Zealand government. It also ensures the equitable distribution of benefits from the 1992 fisheries settlement with the government, and undertakes resource management and education initiatives.
History
Origins of Ngāpuhi
Ngāpuhi, like most iwi, trace their pre-history back to the land of Hawaiki, most likely from Raiatea. The name Ngāpuhi has many stories about its origin, but the most commonly known version is related to a story of an ariki in Hawaiki who lived many generations before Kupe, known as Kareroaiki. Whilst pregnant, Kareroariki craved a human heart to eat, and as a woman of high status, her request was fulfilled. After eating the heart of another ariki, Kareroariki went on to give birth to three children, known as Puhikaiariki, Puhimoanaariki, and Puhitaniwharau. The name "Ngāpuhi" is said to be taken from these children - literally, Ngā Puhi or "The Puhis". A common misconception is that the name Ngāpuhi comes from Puhi of the waka Mātaatua and maternal grandfather of Rāhiri, however there is little corroborating evidence for this claim.The kōrero of Ngāpuhi about Kupe's arrival to Aotearoa also differ from other iwi accounts. The more common version among other iwi is that Kupe was tasked with chasing down and killing Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, the giant pet octopus of Muturangi. He eventually followed the octopus to Aotearoa, where he cornered it and killed it in the Cook Strait, plucking out its eyes and throwing them, becoming Ngāwhatu also known as The Brothers island group. The common Ngāpuhi version, however, states that Kupe fled Hawaiki to escape retribution for attempted murder and adultery. Kūrāmarotini, also known as Kura was married to another man, Hoturapa, though she still desired Kupe. Kupe and Kura would meet in secret, with Kura anointing her body with taramea oil so that Kupe could smell the fragrance. As Kura fell out of love with Hoturapa, her and Kupe devised a plan to kill him. Kupe asked Toto, Kuramarotini's father, for permission to go out with Hoturapa in a waka to fish and set traps. After Toto agreed, Kupe and Hoturapa set out for the fishing grounds. After Toto let down the anchor, Kupe secretly gave an incantation to ensure the anchor would become ensnared. After they had fished, Kupe asked Hoturapa to pull back up the anchor. With Hoturapa unable to do so due to Kupe's incantation, Kupe told him to dive down to investigate as to why it was stuck. After freeing the anchor, Hoturapa rose up from the water only to discover Kupe had gone, leaving him behind to drown. However, as Hoturapa came from a priestly dynasty, he was able to utter karakia to help send him back to shore, where he lived in secret. When Kupe arrived back from his fishing trip, he told the people that Hoturapa had been lost at sea and drowned, and eventually went on to marry Kura. However, news later came back that Hoturapa had actually survived, and Kupe and Kura, fearing that their ruse would be discovered, quickly absconded upon Kupe's waka, Matawhaorua, to the island said to have been fished up by Māui, Te-Ika-a-Māui.
After Kupe and Kura's journey to Aotearoa, they landed at the Hokianga, where they lived for a time. When they set off to return to Hawaiki, they were never to come back to Aotearoa again. Kupe left his son Tuputupuwhenua at the spring of Te Puna-o-te-Ao-Mārama, where he said, "Tuputupuwhenua, hei konei rā. E hoki ana tēnei, e kore rā hau e hoki anga nui mai" , thus the name Te Hokianga-Nui-a-Kupe, commonly shortened to Hokianga.
Kupe's descendant Nukutawhiti also desired to travel and explore the world. He asked Kupe if he could have his waka, Matawhaoarua, and Kupe agreed, gifting Nukutawhiti his waka and giving him advice for his travels. Nukutawhiti, seeing that the waka was riding low in the water, decided to re-adze it in order to lighten it, leading to the renaming of the waka to Ngātokimatawhaorua. As Nukutawhiti travelled to Aotearoa upon his waka alongside Ruanui, captain of the waka Māmari, he gave a karakia in order to summon storm and winds to quicken his journey, now known to Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa as E kau ki te tai e''. During his journey, he was accompanied by a number of taniwha, Niniwa, and Āraiteuru being two of these taniwha. Upon Nukutawhiti's arrival to the Hokianga, he gave Niniwa and Āraiteuru each a strand of seaweed, and said to both of them "Ka hakakōhatungia kourua e hau hei kaitiaki o te Hokianga", thus the names of the two edges of the mouth of the Hokianga harbour; Niniwa at the northern end, and Āraiteuru at the southern end. Nukutawhiti and his descendants lived at the Hokianga for a number of generations until the birth of his descendant Rāhiri, at which time the iwi Ngāpuhi as it is known today would begin to take shape.
Foundations
The main founding ancestor of Ngāpuhi is Rāhiri, the son of Tauramoko and Te Hauangiangi. Tauramoko was a descendant of Kupe, from Matawhaorua, and Nukutawhiti, of the Ngātokimatawhaorua canoe. Te Hauangiangi was the daughter of Puhi, who captained the Mataatua canoe northwards from the Bay of Plenty. Rāhiri was born at Whiria pā, near Opononi in the Hokianga. The early tribes led by Rāhiri's descendants lived in the Hokianga, Kaikohe, and Pouerua areas.Through intermarriage with other iwi and expansionist land migration, the descendants of Rāhiri formed tribes across the Northland peninsula. These actions also fostered ties with neighbouring iwi. Auha and Whakaaria, for example, led expansion eastward from Kaikohe and Pouērua into the Bay of Islands area, overrunning and often intermarrying with Ngāi Tāhuhu, Ngāti Manaia, Te Wahineiti and Ngāti Miru. These tribes in the east were the first to use the name Ngāpuhi. As the eastern and western groups merged, the name came to describe all the tribes settled in the Hokianga and Bay of Islands. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Ngāpuhi tribes pushed further east through the southern Bay of Islands to the open coast, absorbing tribes such as Ngāti Manu, Te Kapotai, Te Uri o Rata, Ngare Raumati, and Ngātiwai.
Hosting the first Christian mission
was chief of the Ngāpuhi from 1812 to his death in 1815. In 1814, he invited the Rev. Samuel Marsden to set up the first ever Christian mission in New Zealand on Ngāpuhi land. The presence of these influential Pākehā secured Ruatara's access to European plants, technology and knowledge, which he distributed to other Māori, thus increasing his mana. After the death of Ruatara, his uncle Hongi Hika became protector of the mission.Thomas Kendall, John King, and William Hall, missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, founded the first mission station in Oihi Bay in the Bay of Islands in 1814 and over the next decades established farms and schools in the area. In 1823 Rev. Henry Williams and his wife Marianne established a mission station at Paihia on land owned by Ana Hamu, the wife of Te Koki. In 1826, Henry's brother William and his wife Jane joined the CMS mission at Paihia. Marianne and Jane Williams established schools for the Ngāpuhi. William Williams led the CMS missionaries in the translation of the Bible and other Christian literature; with the first chapters of the Māori Bible being printed at Paihia by William Colenso in 1827. The missionaries did not succeed in converting a single Māori until 1830 when Rawiri Taiwhanga, a Ngāpuhi chief, was baptised. Ruatara and Hongi Hika themselves welcomed the missionaries' presence, but did not convert. Hōne Heke attended the CMS mission school at Kerikeri and Heke and his wife Ono, were baptised in 1835.
Musket Wars
By the early 19th century, the Bay of Islands had become a prominent shipping port in New Zealand. Through increased trade with Europeans, initiated by Ruatara, Ngāpuhi gained greater access to European weapons, including muskets. Armed with European firearms, Ngāpuhi, led by Hongi Hika, launched a series of expansionist campaigns, with resounding slaughters across Northland and in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.United Tribes of New Zealand and the Declaration of Independence
On 28 October 1835, various Northland chiefs, primarily from the Ngāpuhi tribe, met at Waitangi with British resident James Busby and signed the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand, proclaiming the United Tribes of New Zealand. In 1836, the Crown received and recognized the United Tribes' independence under King William IV. By 1839, 52 chiefs from around Northland and central North Island had signed the Declaration, including most Ngāpuhi chiefs and Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, ariki of the Tainui tribes of the Waikato.Flagstaff War and re-erection of the flagstaff
In 1840, the Ngāpuhi chiefs were all signatories to the Treaty of Waitangi. However, from 1845 to 1846, Ngāpuhi fought against the British Crown over treaty disputes and European encroachment and interference. The Māori forces were led by Te Ruki Kawiti and Hōne Heke, who instigated the war when he chopped down the flagpole at Kororāreka to commence what is sometimes called the Flagstaff War. The British did not fight alone but had Ngāpuhi allies; Tāmati Wāka Nene had given the government assurances of the good behaviour of the Ngāpuhi and he felt that Hōne Heke had betrayed his trust in instigating the Flagstaff War.The outcome of the Flagstaff War is a matter of some debate. Although the war was widely lauded as a British victory, it is clear that the outcome was somewhat more complex, even contentious. The flagstaff which had proved so controversial was not re-erected by the colonial government. Whilst the Bay of Islands and Hokianga was still nominally under British influence, the fact that the Government's flag was not re-erected was symbolically very significant. Such significance was not lost on Henry Williams, who, writing to E. G. Marsh on 28 May 1846, stated that "the flag-staff in the Bay is still prostrate, and the natives here rule. These are humiliating facts to the proud Englishman, many of whom thought they could govern by a mere name."
The legacy of Kawiti's rebellion during the Flagstaff War was that during the time of Governor Grey and Governor Thomas Gore Browne, the colonial administrators were obliged to take account of opinions of the Ngāpuhi before taking action in the Hokianga and Bay of Islands.