The earliest reference to Waitangi in oral tradition comes hundreds of years prior to European arrival. Maikuku, a puhi descended from Rāhiri and the mother of Te Rā, the founding ancestor of the hapū Ngāti Rāhiri, was placed in a cave on the Waitangi peninsula; this area is now known as Te Ana o Maikuku. For more information on Maikuku and the hapū Ngāti Rāhiri and Ngāti Kawa click here.

E tohu ana ngā tirotirohanga whaipara o te Papawhenua o te Waitangi National Trust i ngā pae koni atu i te 100, ko te nuinga i te takutai, e pātata ana rānei ki te manga o Hutia. He ahu otaota kota te maha, erangi kua tautohungia ētahi hei wāhi tapu, ka mutu, ka kitea he taunakitanga o tētahi pā i te wāhi o te papa korowhā. I whakaatu mai ngā kōrero a ngā tāngata tuatahi nō Urupi ehara i te nui te taupori o Waitangi, ā, ko te āhua rā i nohoia ngā kāinga mō ētahi wāhanga o te tau anake. He kāinga ērā e whai pānga ana ki ngā kāinga mai i te Aka o te Awa o Waitangi tae atu ki Roto Ōwhareiti, ā, i nohoia e Ngāti Rāhiri ngā pā i Waitangi, Te Aute, Pākaraka me Pou.

Ko ngā Pākehā tuatahi ki te whakariterite i te hokonga whenua i Waitangi ko ngā Hall, he mihingare nāna i hoko te 50 eka mai i Waraki o Ngātou Pou i te 1815. I tae atu ngā Hall me ngā kaikani tokorua, a Conroy rāua ko Campbell, ki Waitangi, ā, ka hīraungia pōkerehūngia ki ngā mahi tōrangapū whakatete o te wā. Ko te mutunga mai o taua whakatete ko te hīrere whakarekereke, me te aha ka wehe atu a Conroy rātou ko Campbell ko ngā Hall i Waitangi i te 1815 me te 1816.

I te tau 1831 i tukuna he reta nā Te Whakaminenga arā Te Whakaminenga o Ngā Hapū o Niu Tireni, i Kororipo Pā i Kerikeri ki te Karauna o Piritene. I tono whakamaru taua reta mō te Māori me te āwhina ki te whakahaere i ngā kaipūwhenua e taetae mai ana. He mea kopou a Hēmi Puhipi e te Karauna i te tau 1832, ka whakamanahia hei Kainoho Tuatahi Piritene ōkawa o Aotearoa.

I hoko a Puhipi i te tīti a Hall, me te whakaoti i ngā whakawhitinga whenua motuhake e iwa ki ētahi rangatira o ngā hapū o te takiwā, ko te 270 eka te tapeke. I hangaia te Nohonga o te Kainoho Piritene (ko te Whare Tiriti kē ināianei) i runga i taua whenua.

I te tau 1834 i tono a Puhipi kia haere mai Te Whakaminenga ki Waitangi ki te kōwhiri i tētahi haki hou e tautohungia ai rātou. I tū tētahi pōtitanga i te 20 o Māehe i taua tau, ā, ka kōwhiringia Te Kara o te Whakaminenga o Ngā Hapū o Nu Tireni.

By 1835 a growing desire for international recognition of New Zealand (and its governance) led to a meeting of chiefs at Waitangi. Concerned about the intentions of the growing number of Europeans, the chiefs put their signatures to a document which declared New Zealand a ‘whenua rangatira’, an independent country. He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Niu Tireni (Declaration of Independence of New Zealand) was acknowledged and supported by the British Government and continued to make its way around New Zealand gathering signatures until 1839.

In June 1835, Frenchman Charles Phillipe de Thierry travelled to the Pacific where he announced himself the King of Nuku Hiva of the Marquesas Islands. He then notified James Busby of his intention to land in New Zealand to establish himself as the “sovereign chief” of New Zealand¹. Understandably, James Busby saw de Thierry’s intention to claim sovereignty as a direct threat to the British position and authority in New Zealand, and responded with a declaration of his own.

E noho ana He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni i te tau 1835 te Whakaputanga whaimana o te Tino Rangatiratanga o te Māori ki runga i ngā whenua i mōhiongia i mua ko Nu Tireni, erangi e mōhio nuitia ana hei Aotearoa. I tuhi tuatahitia tēnei puka turepapa e Puhipi, nāna i whakarite kia whakamāoritia e te Minita Hēnare Wiremu nō te Rōpū Hāhi Mihinare.

He whā ngā upoko o He Whakaputanga. Ko te tuatahi, ka whakapuaki ngā Rangatira o Te Whakaminenga o Ngā Hapū o Niu Tireni, ko Aotearoa he whenua tū motuhake. Ko te tuarua, ka noho pūmau ngā mana rangatiratanga o Aotearoa ki ngā rangatira tōpū o te whenua. Whai mai i ērā ka tū he hui taumata i ia ngahuru ki Waitangi, ā, ko tā te upoko tuawhā, he whakarite kia whakaratohia he kape mā te Kīngi o Ingarangi. Nā Eruera Pare Hongi, he whanaunga tata ki a Hongi Hika, tētahi tauira whakamutunga o He Whakaputanga i whakaputa tērā i haina rawatia e ngā rangatira 34 o te Tai Tokerau i te 28 o Oketopa.

Ko tā Hēmi Puhipi āwhina ko tana tuku inamata i taua Whakaputanga ki te tari koroniara i Piritene, ā, i hoatu ōkawatia ki a Kīngi Wiremu Te Tuaono nāna i whakapūmau i te mana rangatiratanga o te Māori mā te rēhita i te haki tuatahi o Nu Tireni -  Te Kara². Tae mai ki Hūrae 1839, kua waitohua te pepa e ētahi atu rangatira 18 mai i ngā tōpito e whā o te motu.

Ki te Māori, he tāpaetanga kōrero He Whakaputanga o tō rātou mana i runga i ngā whenua e mōhiotia ana ko Aotearoa. Ki ngā iwi o Te Tai Tokerau e kitea mārikatia ana He Whakaputanga hei pepa matua ki Te Tiriti, me tā rātou kī he mea āta hiahia te whakamanatanga o te tino rangatiratanga kia taea ai te Tiriti o Waitangi i whai atu i te tau 1840 te whakatū^{te 3}. Mō te taha ki a James Busby, kua kī mai ētahi he hoari matarua He Whakaputanga, arā he taputapu hei ārai i ngā kerēme Wīwī ki te mana rangatiratanga, me te āwhina ki te whakatairanga i te hononga mahi kaha ake ki te Māori i taua wā tonu.

I Hanuere 1840 ka tae mai a Wiremu Hopihana ki Pēwhairangi i runga anō i te tono a te Kāwanatanga o Piritene kia hangaia he tiriti ki te Māori. Nā Hēmi Puhi i tuku kia whakahaerengia e ia he hui ki te taha o Te Whakaminenga hei whakarongo ki tā Hopihana marohi.

I tae mai te hia rau Māori ki te hui kōrerorero i te 5 o Pepuere i Waitangi, me te taenga tawhiti mai o ētahi rangatira nō Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Nā Hopihana ngā kupu Ingarihi i tuhi, nā Puhipi i whakatika, i mua i te whakawhitinga ki te reo Māori e te Minita Henare Wiremu rāua ko tana tama a Erueti, ka mutu, ka tāpaengia ki te aroaro o ngā rangatira.

I whakaputa te tokomaha o ngā rangatira i ō rātou whakaaro, ahakoa whakaae, ahakoa whakahē, mō te haina i te tiriti e marohitia ana. I haere tonu ngā kōrerorero tae ki te pō roa, ā, i te ata o te 6 o Pēpuere i reri ētahi rangatira ki te haina.

I kawea haeretia he kape o Te Tiriti o Waitangi ki ngā rohe o te whenua kia waitohua ai. I Mei i taua tau, i whakaputaina e Hopihana te Pānui Tino Rangatiratanga, i kī i a Kuini WIkitoria te 'Tino Rangatiranga katoa o ngā Motu o Nu Tireni'. I pērā ahakoa e kawea haerehia tonuhia ana he kape o te Tiriti kia hainangia ai. I te mutunga o te haerenga e whitu marama te roa o ngā kape Tiriti, tata ki te 540 ngā rangatira kua haina. Heoi he maha horekau i haina, erangi ki a Hopihana me te Tari Koroni kua whiwhi kē i a rātou te 'whakaae herekore i runga i te mōhio' a ngā rangatira Māori.

With differences in wording between the English and te reo Māori texts relating to sovereignty and possession of lands and other properties, there has been much discontent since the signing. Within five years, the New Zealand Wars had begun with the Battle of Kororāreka. The Wars continued in different parts of the countries for several decades resulting in lost lives, livelihoods, and land.

By 1867 Māori were vastly outnumbered and dispossessed of much of their land. They were granted four seats in parliament, and from this small beginning the political strength of Māori grew, both inside and outside the system.

Whai muri i te koni atu i te 100 tau ko te hua o tō te Māori aumangea ko te whakamanatanga o te Ture Tiriti o Waitangi i te 1975, he ture e urungi ana me te arataki i te ngā take me ngā kerēme katoa e pā ana ki te Tiriti i Aotearoa. Nā taua ture i whakatūria ai Te Rōpū Whakamana i Te Tiriti o Waitangi e whakawāwā ana, e whakatau kerēme ana mai i te 1975, me ana mahi haere tonu hei wāhanga taketake o tō te Māori onāianei ū tonu ki te takaoraora me te manawaroa o ō rātou tūpuna.

Waitangi Day, a day to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, is an acknowledgement of New Zealand’s past which provides a platform for all New Zealanders to consider what the Treaty means today. Recent years have seen the Government at Te Whare Rūnanga come together across parties to engage with mana whenua at the place where the Treaty was first signed.