1865 Te Kooti imprisoned without trial

Until 1865, the government tended to treat Māori who were captured in battle as prisoners of war. In 1865, with the rise of the Pai Mārire movement, it also arrested people whom it thought were aiding the "rebels". Te Kooti Rikirangi of Poverty Bay was one of these. He was sent with some 300 others to the Chatham Islands. Te Kooti's pleas for a trial were ignored. On 4 July 1868, Te Kooti and many followers escaped from the Chathams and were pursued on the East Coast and in the Urewera and the Taupō districts. He founded the Ringatū church and provided it with rituals and structures that last to this day. From 1868, the government began to charge particular individuals with crimes such as murder or treason, but Te Kooti escaped the pursuing forces (over some four years) and was eventually pardoned in 1883.