“He Whenua Rangatira. A Māori land”

This short Youtube clip is part of the exhibition of “He Tohu”. He Tohu has been presented by two leading institutions in Aotearoa/ New Zealand – Archives News Zealand /Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga as well as the National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.¹

Comprising the time period between 1200 and 1300 and 1839, the video illustrates the first recorded initial Māori settlements on both Islands and both the first European visitors bus also the first Maori travellers outside of Aoetearoa. The brief clip is separted in several ‘chapters’:

1200-1300: Māori arrivals

1300-1500: Pā Sites

1500-1700: Iwi Migrations

1500-1800: Trade routes

1600-1840: European arrivals: Explorers

1600-1840: European arrivals: Missionaries

1600-1840: European arrivals: Whalers

1769-1840: Māori explore the world

1835-183: Signing off He Whakaputanga

He Tohu is a permanent exhibition of three documents, that sustainably changed and formed Aotearoa’s history.² In 1835, several years after his appointment, and afraid of a potential French annexation, James Busby gathered 34 Māori Rangatira together in order to organize them under the He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni, which is also known as the “Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand”.³

The second document, which the exhibition consists of, is the “Te Tiriti o Waitangi – Treaty of Waitangi” of 1840.⁴

And the “Women’s Suffrage Petition – Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine” in 1893.⁵

1. He Tohu, in: National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu, [last Access: 15.07.2022]. [↩]
2. See Aotearoa’s founding documents at He Tohu, in: Wellington NZ, https://www.wellingtonnz.com/experience/see-and-do/he-tohu/, [last Access: 15.07.2022]. [↩]
3. He Whakaputanga, in: National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu/about/he-whakaputanga, [last Access: 15.07.2022]. [↩]
4. Te Tiriti o Waitangi – Treaty of Waitangi, in: National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu/about/te-tiriti-o-waitangi, [last Access: 15.07.2022]. [↩]
5. Women’s Suffrage Petition – Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine, in: National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu/about/womens-suffrage-petition, [last Access: 15.07.2022]. [↩]

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