Colonisation/
Indigenous Issues
We are strong enough and honest enough to learn the lessons of the last 150 years and to admit that the Treaty of Waitangi has been imperfectly observed.
Queen Elizabeth II, Waitangi, 1990
Never before has there been such a need for New Zealanders to be aware of our shared history. If we continue to ignore the truth we are on the fast-track to deep racially-based divisions in our society.
Metiria Turei MP, Green Party Māori Affairs Spokesperson, February 2004
James Cook Arrives
When British explorer James Cook first arrived in 1769, the European world put its first footprint firmly onto the land of Aotearoa. Welcomed by the indigenous Māori people, the first Europeans found a society of complex tribal groupings, with rich oral histories and crafts, strong values of community and respect for their environment.
This sense of the ‘communal’ reflected in every way, from the original creation myths through to the world of nature and beyond. The Māori believe that they have whakapapa (genealogical) links to everything - not just to humans but to the universe as well. As such, forests, mountains, seas, rivers and lakes are viewed as siblings (brothers and sisters) in the same family tree (whakapapa). Their sacred relationship with the natural world was visible in the strict laws of tapu (sacredness) and mana (divine spiritual authority) - developed to live in harmony with their world – and still holds true for many Māori today. The land is part of who Māori are as a people, and links them to their tribal roots.1 These spiritual and family connections are what make Māori tangata whenua … the people of the land of Aotearoa.
From around 1800, when Europeans began to settle in steadier numbers, until the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Māori world was thrown into turmoil. Conflict over land use and ownership erupted, new technologies (such as muskets), and the arrival of Christian missionaries, started to weaken the unique social fabric.
From an estimated Māori population (pre-European contact) of up to 100,000, 2 loss of life through warfare, and the introduction of new diseases was so great that less than 30% of Māori survived two generations from the time of European settlement.3
The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between more than 500 Māori chiefs and the representatives of Queen Victoria of England was intended to bring disputes between tribes and settlers to an end, and (in the minds of the British) to bring one common rule of law and government to Aotearoa – now renamed as New Zealand. The English version of the Treaty stated that sovereignty was passed to the Queen of England. However, the Māori version said that the Treaty promised Māori tino rangatiratanga.4 This debate over the wording of the Treaty continues today.5
VIDEO:
Protests at Waitangi from Te Kupu's Rapumentary. From "Nga Tahi - Know the Links".
»watch video
The Seeds of Trauma
The mid 1860s saw violence break out between Māori and Pākeha, as more settlers demanded land of their own. When Māori fought back to protect their land rights, the crown confiscated (took) thousands of acres as punishment – and arrested, imprisoned and killed many hundreds of Māori.
At Parihaka, nine hundred and fifty five armed volunteers and six hundred and forty four Armed Constabulary were sent to deal with people who were peacefully resisting the theft of their land. More than four hundred resisters were arrested before the invasion. The invasion was marked by rapes; the looting of the resisters property; the burning of their homes and the uprooting of their crops; the forced relocation under armed escort of 1507 men, women and children; arrests which continued for three weeks after the invasion; then imprisonment without trial in dank caves for periods of up to two years.6
We had 66 million acres of it (land); we have less than 3 million acres of it now. We’ve lost all of that in less than 200 years.7
The pain caused from such loss and displacement, and from the brutal disruption and disrespect shown to Māori, nearly dealt them a mortal blow.
Colonisation Takes Hold
The shock, pain and grief of such a blow to the culture is one not easily healed. While those early ‘colonising’ forces were, in themselves, enough to initiate long-term trauma, it didn’t stop there. The pressure on society during the two World Wars, and the Depression afterwards, forced Māori into cities, in search of work – because loans to develop land that had multiple owners were (and still are) not available. Old tribal structures were lost and by the late 1950s there was a real possibility that the language and culture could be drowned forever beneath the colonising wave.
This colonisation of Māori by European law and culture continues to disconnect Māori from their land, language, culture and roots right up to this day.
Colonisation imposed a terrible separatism on us – separated us from our land; separated us from our rights; separated us from our power… and we are simply trying to reclaim those…8
Although steps have been taken to start tackling some of the long-term grief and loss that has resulted from British colonisation, it is still very much a hot issue for Māori today (and for other indigenous cultures around the world, who have suffered from the same kinds of processes and results). It is these issues of continued trauma and dislocation, loss and anger, which have found voice in Aotearoa’s growing Hip Hop scene. In the following sub topics, we’ll look into these issues more closely, and discuss how they reveal and express themselves through the world of Hip Hop.
Don’t forget those who’ve fought before Our struggle continues more and more Yeah it’s a struggle, it’s a struggle The systems got us in a muddle So strive to get outta this puddle E tu, stand proud, kia kaha, say it loud.
Upper Hutt Posse – E Tu.
Test your knowledge
- What year did Captain James Cook first arrive in Aotearoa?
- Why is the land so important to Māori?
- What percentage of Māori survived the first two generations of European settlement?
- What year was The Treaty of Waitangi signed? Who signed it?
- How much land was lost to Māori in the first 200 years of European settlement?
- What effects of colonisation on Māori are still evident today?
Extend your thinking
Imagine if… all your family land (or property) is taken from you; you are banned from speaking your native language in public, and forced to speak a ‘foreign’ language; the members of your extended family who stand up to the occupying force are imprisoned or killed (some of the violence taking place in front of you); and your legal, economic and social status in society is pushed down to the bottom of the heap.
How would this experience affect you? How would you feel? How would the future look for you? What could you do to change this?
1. This connection is summed up in the words ‘whenua’ and ‘hapu’. Whenua is the word for land and for afterbirth. It is customary to place the afterbirth of a new child in the whenua (land) to continue the spiritual connection that exists from the beginning to the present. Hapū is the word for subtribe and also for a pregnant woman.
2. Jon Wilson. ‘History’, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 17-Feb-2005
URL: http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealandInBrief/History/en.htm
3. ‘Denial of the effects of Colonisation?’ 31 August 2000, Peace Movement Aotearoa newsletter.
4. The majority of Māori signed the Māori version of the Treaty, which they believed continued to give them sovereignty over their land and people, while granting governance of all other peoples (non-Māori) to the Crown.
5. Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal. ‘Māori’, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 17-Feb-2005
URL: http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealandInBrief/Maori/en.htm
6. 'Denial of the effects of Colonisation?’ 31 August 2000, Peace Movement Aotearoa newsletter.
7. Hone Harawira from ‘Ngā Tahi – Know the Links’, 2003, Kia Kaha Productions.
8. Moana Jackson – from ‘Ngā Tahi – Know the Links’, 2003, Kia Kaha Productions.
