Te Rauparaha (1768?-1849), a New Zealand Māori chief, was one of the greatest and most ruthless of all the Māori warriors known to Europeans. Both Māori and Europeans feared and admired him, in equal measure. For 22 years, Te Rauparaha, who was a chief of the Ngāti Toa iwi (tribe), led his followers in ferocious attacks on other iwi in the southern part of the North Island and in the northern part of the South Island.
In 1821, Māori from the Waikato district trespassed on Ngāti Toa fishing waters near Kawhia, on the northwestern coast of the North Island. In revenge, Te Rauparaha formed a war party and killed two Waikato chiefs. Furious at this incident, Māori from the Waikato prepared a major attack against Ngāti Toa. But Ngāti Toa escaped the attack, and Te Rauparaha led them in a great heke (migration) to Kapiti Island, near the southwestern coast of the North Island. In 1823, he and his followers attacked this island fortress and seized it from the Ngāti Apa iwi.
From Kapiti, Te Rauparaha and his supporters, known collectively as the Ngāti Toa alliance, raided other regions. The most ferocious of his raids took place in 1830 in Akaroa, a small village of the South Island iwi Ngāi Tahu. Te Rauparaha persuaded a whaling captain to carry him and his warriors to Akaroa. After killing the villagers, Ngāti Toa warriors returned to Kapiti on the whaling ship.
In 1846, British soldiers captured Te Rauparaha at Porirua and placed him under open arrest for two years. He died in Otaki on Nov. 27, 1849.
See also Wairau incident .
