Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Ambush at the ford
MANGAPIKO STREAM, WAIKATO, NEW ZEALAND, 1864
After the United Kingdom had signed the Treaty of Waitangi with chiefs of the indigenous
Maori people in 1840, the British regarded the whole of New Zealand as a colony within their
empire. Many Maori saw the situation differently. Disagreements over the treaty's implica-
tions for their rights to land sparked a sequence of conflicts now known collectively as the
New Zealand Wars, which took place intermittently between 1845 and 1872. Not all Maori
actively resisted colonisation; some even joined the 'British' side to fight alongside local mi-
litiamen and members of the regular army. Those Maori who opposed colonial expansion -
