John M. Gates

James Belich and the Modern Maori Pa: Revisionist History Revised

Colonial wars are often forgotten wars, and the mid-nineteenth-century conflict involving New Zealands indigenous Maori population and the British is no exception. Although punctuated by sporadic violence, early contact between Maori and European was generally peaceful. Both New Zealands Maori inhabitants and the traders, whalers, missionaries and settlers they encountered found interaction mutually beneficial, but as European settlement increased so did reasons for conflict. In 1845war broke out around the Bay of Islands on New Zealands North Island. After roughly ten months of fighting the conflict subsided, although in 1846 and 1847 shorter bouts of fighting took place around Wellington and Wanganui. After more than a decade of relative peace, fighting resumed in 1860and continued until the early 1870s. Known collectively as the New Zealand Wars, the various campaigns pitted dissident Maori groups against regulars of the British army, navy, and marines, armed settlers and Maori who allied themselves with the British colonial forces.