My work

Musket Wars

Prologue
By Michael King

We read the prologue of the musket wars by Michael King.

•  The spread of the muskets throughout the country, Whereas in the 1818 Ngapuhi  could campaign with impunity with small numbers then they caused havoc through out the north island Defeats were often encountered, and in human terms the cost of campaigning became too great. Te Raupara and his allies had the same experience in the South Island in their later campaigns.

• A factor of the wars to end was the arrival of large numbers of the European settlers at the end of the 1830s. The Europeans began to by the land, especially in places where there had been temporarily abandoned by the iwi during the musket wars then they started to settle in large numbers. 

•  A major New Zealand company made a purchase of the northern portions of Te Waipounamu from Te Rauparaha. A Ngai Tahu was on its way north to attack Te Rauparaha when they heard of there purchase of land they clamed as there own. The taua was on its way to returning home to Southland. The Europeans stole Ngai Tahu land down south.

• Important factor in the hostilities was the conversion of the many Maori to Christianity on the rangatira involved in the early years of the Musket wars was very small.

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

Monday, 4 May 2015

Badass of the Week: Hongi Hika

I read Badass of The Weeks version of Hongi Hika's life by Ben Thompson. He made a funny take on his life and he did a very good job of it.

When James Cook arrived, Hongi was holding up heads that had been cut up really bad. One thing that stood out to James cook The Maori people are very "hardcore". One of Cooks first encounters with the Maori happened with a when a "pimped-out war canoe" rolled up alongside Cook's ship and a couple of "skull-crushing" tribesmen with gnarly full-face tattoos stood up in their ship and held up a set of "perfectly-preserved severed heads" they had "recently detached from the torsos of a band of almost-equally-hardcore warriors.

In 1808 Hongi's tribal chief, while trading items with the Europeans, discovered a new, powerful weapon that he was certain was going to be the most awesome thing to happen to warfare since the invention of decapitation, the flintlock musket. So he he kept in contact with the europeans so he could trade in order get the bullets and the gun powder. He took the heads from his dead enemies and smoked them and then used them to trade. Hongi went to London where the king gave him a lot of gifts. On the way home he stopped over in Australia and exchanged them all for guns and bullets.

Author: Ben Thompson

Source:

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hongihika.html

 

Monday, 27 April 2015

Tū

We read a Wikipedia post Tūmatauenga, the god of war and balance, I learnt the Tūmatauenga thinks about the actions while they we fighting. He tells his two younger brothers Rongo and Haumia-tikeiike to kill there parents to allow light into the world. If they perform the rituals, kill and eat birds, fish, cultivate and harvest food plants, and generally harness the resources of the natural world.











 









 

What Were They like?

The warriors didn't wear much clothing and didn't have a clue on what the Europeans looked like would of had no clue that they were going to even turn up. They were always battling with each. The warriors had to fend for them selves and everything they could to do so.

I Think the films Dead Lands and God of War are realistic and I think that because it looks like what was going on when back when it was happening back then.

They acted much like Tūmatauenga and were most likely looking up to him and new a lot about him and were always trying to be like him. They most likely always followed in his foot steps.

I think life back then would have been very hard. They would have been made to work, I think it would have been very tough in what the law did or there would of have were tight guide lines that that certain people had to stick to.

Maori Weapons

Maori Weapons

Rākau Māori (Māori weaponry) was designed for hand-to-hand combat. In battle it was common for toa (warriors) to take a long handled weapon such as a taiaha (long-handled fighting staff) and a short weapon such as a patu (club) tucked into a belt. Māori wore little into battle apart from a maro (kilt) or a tātua (belt). In some cases a tapahu (dogskin war cloak) or a cloak to shield pauku (spear thrusts) was worn. Māori did not use bows and arrows, so fighting was almost entirely hand-to-hand. Famous weapons were given names and handed down from generation to generation.

Long-handled weapons

Taiaha (fighting staff)

One of the most well-known Māori weapons is the taiaha. It is usually made from wood, though sometimes it is made from whale bone. Due to its shape, it is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a spear. The staff has a pointed end, and is usually between 1.5 and 1.8 metres long. The pointed end (the arero or tongue) comes out of the upoko (head) which then becomes the ate (liver) or tinana (body). It is used for stabbing, parrying (warding off blows) and striking.

 

Tewhatewha (axe-like fighting staff)

A tewhatewha is a long-handled staff. Its shape is similar to an axe with a long handle, though it is shaped from a single piece of wood or sometimes bone. The end of the handle is pointed and blows from the axe-like part were made with the handle rather than the blade.

Tumatauenga, God of War and Balance

We read a Wikipedia  entry about Tumatauenga, the god of war and balance. We learnt that Tumatauenga is one of the great maori gods, all war-parties were dedicated to him and he was treated with the greatest respect. He is usually a son of the primordial parent, sky and earth. `Tūmatauenga advises his brothers to kill their parents Rangi and Papa in order to allow light and space into the world, but the kinder proposal of Tāne is accepted and instead the primordial pair are forced apart. Tūmatauenga thinks about the actions of Tāne in separating their parents, and makes snares to catch the birds, the children of Tāne, who can no longer fly free. He then makes nets, and traps the children of Tangaroa. He makes hoes to dig the ground, capturing his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike. heaping them into baskets to be eaten. The only brother that Tūmatauenga cannot subdue completely is Tāwhirimātea, whose storms and hurricanes attack humankind to this day because of his indignation at the actions of his brothers.