The Musket Wars
- When
- 1818–1840
- Reach
- Nationwide
Musket-armed war parties reshaped the map of Māori New Zealand. Perhaps 20,000 died and whole districts changed hands before the fighting burned out around 1840.
Ngāpuhi acquired muskets first through the Bay of Islands trade, and campaigns under Hongi Hika reached deep into the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and beyond. As muskets spread the advantage evened out, but by then entire iwi had migrated, been absorbed or been displaced — Ngāti Toa from Kāwhia to Kapiti, Te Āti Awa south to Wellington and on to Rēkohu. The population movements of these two decades explain many of the land claims and boundary disputes the Crown would later inherit, and the death toll far exceeded that of the New Zealand Wars.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
Related
Te Rauparaha’s migration to Kapiti
Ngāti Toa left Kāwhia and fought their way south, seizing Kapiti Island as a base that controlled Cook Strait and the trade passing through it.
Kapiti IslandNew Zealand enters the First World War
About 100,000 served overseas from a population of just over a million. Around 18,000 died and 41,000 were wounded — proportionally among the heaviest losses of any country.
New Zealand declares war on Germany
‘Where she goes, we go’ — 140,000 served overseas and nearly 12,000 died, from a population of 1.6 million.
Invasion of the Waikato
Te riri ki Waikato
Around 12,000 imperial and colonial troops crossed the Mangatāwhiri to break the Kīngitanga — the largest military campaign ever fought in New Zealand.
Mangatāwhiri