29: tangata Maori

In all this, we are attempting to find evidence of the true tangata whenua - those here before Maori. Therefore, this post is a numbered one because I wish to reveal a little about who Maori saw themselves as, based on their own description of themselves at the time the treaty was signed.

Tangata Maori:

This term was given to Maori in the early days when Maori acknowledged there were others already here when they arrived. Over the years that term has been dropped (almost hidden). And when something is repeated often enough it becomes normal or accepted. The treaty was written in the language of the day, with people who believed things that those now do not. They called themselves tangata Maori. I know it can be said there is verbal tradition, but that can be changed within a generation. Maori understood what they read before signing the treaty. To say otherwise is insulting to the chiefs that signed it.

That said, where did the term Tangata Maori come from? It came from Maori and those who drafted the treaty. After Ngapuhi began its murderous rampage something had to be done. Part of that, (as explained in the sidestep between posts 3&4 below) was involved in constructing a treaty for all Maori, protecting them with British sovereignty against the French. Keep in mind that before the treaty was signed, half the Maori population had already been decimated by muskets fired by Maori upon Maori. That excludes disease which killed many more as happens in native populations worldwide with no immunity to introduced illnesses.

On 29th January 1840, Lt. Governor Hobson arrived in New Zealand and immediately began drafting the Treaty. A couple of days later he became ill and handed over his draft notes to James Busby to complete. Busby drafted a very formal treaty draft that could not be understood by the chiefs. On the 4th February, Hobson had recovered and with Busby, went ashore to James Clendon, the American Consulate’s house to simplify and finalise the “final English draft”.

From Hobson’s and Busby’s notes, they drafted the “final English draft” of the Treaty of Waitangi on paper with a, “1833, W Tucker watermark”, supplied by James Clendon. At 4-00 pm on the 4th February, Lt. Governor Hobson went to the Rev Henry William’s house for Rev Williams and his son Edward to translate the “final English draft” into the "Tiriti o Waitangi". Rev Williams admitted he and his son, who had been in New Zealand since 1823 made minor changes from the final draft to the Tiriti o Waitangi, but it did not change the meaning of the treaty in any way. The changes he made were to clarify which group of people Lt. Governor Hobson was referring to in the Treaty.

In the Preamble he changed “all the people of New Zealand” to “chiefs and hapus of New Zealand” and in Article 3 he changed “all the people of New Zealand” to “tangata Maori”. Williams left “all the people of New Zealand” in Article 2 as it related to, “all the people of New Zealand”, irrespective of race, colour or creed, possession of their lands, their settlements and their property.

When Rev Henry Williams and his son translated the Treaty into the native language, they used the term “tangata Maori”. It was known in 1840, through the native’s legends, that the natives of New Zealand were not the “tangata whenua” as explained by Professor Ranginui Walking in the paragraph below. There is still ongoing debate who the 'tangata whenua' were, but native legend and recent research shows that some of the “original people” were “pale skinned with fair or red hair and blue or green eyes”.

Professor Ranginui Walker, past Head of Maori Studies at Auckland University sums up the arrival of the Canoe Peopleon page 18 in the,“1986 New Zealand Year Book”, stating,“The traditions are quite clear on one point, whenever crew disembarked there were already tangata whenua (prior inhabitants). The canoe ancestors of the 14-century merged with these tangata whenua tribes. From this time on the traditions abound with accounts of tribal wars over land and its resources. Warfare was the means by which tribal boundaries were defined and political relations between tribes established. Out of this period emerged 42 tribal groups whose territories became fixed after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and the establishment of Pax Britannica”. (Pax Britanica - British Peace).

After each chief signed the Tiriti o Waitangi at Waitangi on the 6th February 1840, Lt. Governor Hobson shook their hand and repeated, “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people”, to which the whole gathering gave three hearty cheers. The Tiriti o Waitangi gave Great Britain sovereignty over all the Islands of New Zealand and tangata Maori, “the same rights as the people of England”, no more, no less. No more and no less. That statement has to be understood in relation to subsequent events.

However, it must be understood that the treaty was in Maori, but that different regions had different dialects. Then to translate the different dialects to English. What a mess!

So while this post I supposed to be less about the political side of the treaty, the treaty clearly states 'tangata Maori' as this was understood in the light of stories from people who were born in the 1700’s and knew the true history (not the political one). Keep in mind that what they signed was in their own language. By 1840 most chiefs could read and write Maori (previously not a written language) as well as English…all taught by missionaries who helped instigate the need for a treaty. But to say Maori didn't understand what they were signing is untrue and insulting to the intelligence of the chiefs. Those chiefs had the treaty read out to them, and many could already read, and they discussed it for five hours while being read out multiple times for clarification. They heard and understood all the words, including 'tangata Maori' over and over and over. They also heard '...the ceding of sovereignty' before signing the treaty. To say otherwise is incredibly insulting to the chiefs that signed it.

Below are the maori words (seen above) that they all signed to:

KO WIKITORIA te Kuini o Ingarani i tana mahara atawai ki nga Rangatira me nga Hapu o Nu Tirani i tana hiahia hoki kia tohungia ki a ratou o ratou rangatiratanga me to ratou wenua. a kia mau tonu hoki te Rongo ki a ratou me te Atanoho hoki kua wakaaro ia he mea tika kea tukua mai tetahi Rangatira – hei kai wakarite ki nga Tangata maori o Nu Tirani – kia wakaaetia e nga Rangatira maori te kawanatanga o te Kuini ki nga wahikatoa o te wenua nei me nga motu – na te mea hoki he tokomaha ke nga tangata o tona Iwi Kua noho ki tenei wenua, a e haere mai nei.

Na ko te Kuini e hiahia ana kia wakaritea te Kawanatanga kia kana ai nga kino e puta mai ki te tangata Maori ki te Pakeha e noho ture kore ana.

Na. kua pai te Kuini kia tukua a hau a Wiremu Hopihona he Kapitana i te Roiara Nawi hei Kawana mo nga wahi katoa o Nu Tirani e tukua aianei. amua atu ke te Kuini. e mea atu ana ia ki nga Rangatira o te wakaminenga o nga hapu o Nu Tirani me era Rangatira atu enei ture ka korerotia nei.

And here is the English version.

HER MAJESTY VICTORIA Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland regarding with Her Royal Favour the Native Chiefs and Tribes of New Zealand and anxious to protect their just Rights and Property and to secure to them the enjoyment of Peace and Good Order has deemed it necessary in consequence of the great number of Her Majesty's Subjects who have already settled in New Zealand and the rapid extension of Emigration both from Europe and Australia which is still in progress to constitute and appoint a functionary properly authorized to treat with the Aborigines of New Zealand for the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereign authority over the whole or any part of those islands – Her Majesty therefore being desirous to establish a settled form of Civil Government with a view to avert the evil consequences which must result from the absence of the necessary Laws and Institutions alike to the native population and to Her subjects has been graciously pleased to empower and to authorize me William Hobson a Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy Consul and Lieutenant Governor of such parts of New Zealand as may be or hereafter shall be ceded to Her Majesty to invite the confederated and independent Chiefs of New Zealand to concur in the following Articles and Conditions.

This is the copy of the Treaty of Waitangi used by Reverend Robert Maunsell at Port Waikato on the 11th of April 1840. The text is in Maori and it's content was conveyed, by oratory, to the chiefs and assembly, fully in Maori.

And there it is! Tangata Maori are the ones who signed the treaty, knowing it said tangata Maori as those who actually possessed the land at the time the Europeans arrived. But they were not the true tangata Whenua, and they knew that - that term was eventually inherited and is used today in the same way a Chinese immigrant eventually calls himself a Kiwi.

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NOTE: Please note that at the time the treaty was signed was when Māori literacy rates per capita in New Zealand were higher than Pākehā in England.