1858 First Māori King

In the year that the Pākehā population exceeded that of Māori in New Zealand, the first Māori king was chosen. A decade previously, this concept had been suggested, then in 1854, Ngāti Ruanui hosted the first of many joint talks among North Island Māori to halt the advance of Pākehā settlement and stem the decay perceived in traditional Māori society. Now a unified Māori response was believed possible in the movement, soon to be called Kingitanga. The aged but very highranking Waikato chief Te Wherowhero (who had not signed the Treaty) became the first king, taking the name Potatau. Around him grew the Kingite movement, supported by Māori from Hauraki to Horowhenua. The Kingitanga was not universally welcomed among Māori, though, with many chiefs refusing to put their mana under that of someone else. The northern tribes of Tai Tokerau had no involvement because they were strongly associated with the Treaty, which was viewed by some as being in opposition to the King movement. They and others reacted against the strongly Tainui tribal connections of the Kingitanga's leadership. It should be noted that the Kingitanga regarded the Queen as complementary to the Māori king, not as a competitor, but the colonial government took a different view. Under the second king, Tawhiao (who ruled for 34 years from 1860), the movement gave strong direction and cohesion in many of the armed campaigns that followed.