Pakeha Maori and the Musket Wars
Giving your enemies guns doesn’t sound like the smartest idea in the world, but that is exactly what happened in the 1800s. After the New Zealand colonies had been established, white prisoners from Australia chose to escape and start a new life with the Maori people. Many of them even got married and adopted their customs. These people were known as the Pakeha Maori. Once they became good friends, the Pakeha Maori began to smuggle guns into the tribes.
For so long, the English had the upper hand in battle, because they were the only ones with guns. Now, they had those weapons as well. However, instead of banning together to use these guns against the English, they decided to use them to settle tribal disputes. Over the course of thirty years, the Maori people slaughtered one another in what is now remembered as “The Musket Wars“. At the time, their total population was about 100,000 people, and this war killed 18,000. To make matters worse, European diseases were beginning to spread throughout the country, and Maori people were dying due to a lack of immunity.
A tribal leader Hongi Hika was considered to be the man who started the Musket Wars. He was incredibly terrifying and would strike fear into the ears of his enemies by threatening to kill and eat their entire family. He was so determined to win against his tribe’s rivals, that he helped guarantee the European’s safety in exchange for more guns and ammunition.
In 1820, Hongi Hika agreed to go to England in order to help them write an English-Maori dictionary. In reality, he was on a secret mission to take as many guns as he could, because he heard a rumor that The Tower of London was filled to the brim with weapons. He met King George IV, who gave him a suit of armor as a gift. On his way home, he traded all of the King’s gifts in exchange for- you guessed it- more guns. By the year 1830, there were so many guns in the country, that Hongi Hika no longer had the upper hand among the Maori tribes. They eventually had to call a truce.