Together As One
Te Kingitanga was also established as a way to bring together the Maori tribes so they would all be under one monarch- particularly after land sales invoked arguments within the tribes and Maori as a whole as well as gaining a strength of unity against the europeans. Not only was it intended to unite the Maori's but it would also serve as creating a figure of authority who displayed the same mana within the government therefore allowing 'the king' to speak for the Maori as he who would be given the same sort of respect as the Pakeha Queen, Queen Victoria. This unity was also designed to institute a system of law and order for Maori Communicates as the King would advice the Europeans on the cultures of the Maori Race. It was however, after Te Rauparaha's son, Tamihah Te Rauparaha visited the British Kingdom in 1852 that the idea of forming a Maori Kingdom came to play.
'Although there has been disputes and wars with settlers and with the government over land from the outset of settlement, by the 1850's most Maori leaders were equally concerned about disputes between Maori' |
This shows how although the initial issue of land was the cause of the King Movement, it was the Maori leader's priority to also stop inter-conflict between tribes as they thought te Kingitanga would be the best method of inflicting this. This passage was drawn from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.
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Sorrrenson's essay's on Maori history also mention the unification attempt by the Maori that began Te Kingitanga as he says "It was conservative in the sense that it sought to reassert and extend traditional ideals, values and practices in an attempt to resist the disintegration of Maori society resulting from contact with Europeans. It sought t revive unity within tribes by reasserting the mana of chiefs over individuals and unity between tribes by asserting the mana of a king over chiefs."
This passage, part of the historical book 'Tainu' by historian Leslie G Kelly, show that the idea of the Maori King Movement was bought to light 'to end tribal dissensions; so to stop the shredding of blood in tribal feuds' i.e to unify the maori tribes to work as one, particularly with more European settlers continuously arriving in the country.
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"A king it was thought, would end tribal dissension; he would be a plug to stop the shedding of blood in tribal feuds and a solid post around which the tribes would centre. It was the maori cry for nationalism |