NZ History MapAotearoa 1800–2000
Government & law

Te Kotahitanga — the Māori Parliament

Te Kotahitanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi

When
1892–1902
Where
Waipatu, Hawke’s Bay · Waipatu
Reach
Several regions

A Māori parliament met annually for a decade, seeking the self-government promised by Te Tiriti and passing its own legislation.

Kotahitanga drew on He Whakaputanga and the Treaty to argue for a Māori legislature with authority over Māori land and people. It met each year from 1892, debated in te reo, and sent repeated petitions to Parliament and to the Crown. Wellington never conceded the principle, but the movement produced a generation of leaders and shaped the later Young Māori Party.

Regions affected

Hawke’s BayNorthlandGisborneManawatū-Whanganui

Sources

Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.

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