The Musket Wars

These are the wars that cost more lives than any other in our history. Stretched over more than a decade & the entire country, these conflicts changed Māori warfare & much of what came next.

For more than 30 years Aotearoa was beset by warfare as Māori hapū and iwi made use of new gunpowder weapons to settle old disputes with rivals. It's estimated 50 thousand people were directly affected - killed, injured, enslaved, or forced to migrate from traditional lands.

Watch the video version of the episode here

These conflicts had a massive impact on everything from the Treaty of Waitangi, to the battles of the New Zealand Wars.

These days they are most commonly known as The Musket Wars.

In this episode we discuss:

• The Battle of Mātakitaki.
• The story of Hongi Hika, and how the musket wars began, then spread around Aotearoa.
• How concepts of utu and mana influenced the wars.
• How Māori were able to make peace after conflicts.
• The debate over the importance of muskets to the conflict compared to the importance of potatoes.
• How practices like kai tangata (cannibalism) and mokomokai (the taking and preserving of human heads) were involved in these conflicts.
• How the Musket Wars influenced the signing to The Treaty of Waitangi and He Whakapūtanga (The Declaration of Independence).
• How the Musket Wars influenced British colonisation, and the New Zealand Wars.
• How and why the Musket Wars ended.

For more on this subject:

• The Forgotten Wars by Ron Crosby.
• Hongi Hika: Warrior Chief by Dorothy Ulrich Cloher.
• Making Peoples by James Belich.
• Musket Wars - Te Ara Encyclopaedia

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details