Warfare in Polynesia: Maori

(1999)

(2002)

(2001)

35 S. lat.

(~ southern U.S.)

North Island

103,737.93 sq mi 268,680.00 sq km

South Island

50 S. lat. (~ southern Canada)

modern pop. 2,137,500=18 p/km p/km

North Island
initial settlement ~1000 A.D.
greenstone southern limits yam of crop cultivation

North Island:
116,000 km km X 20% suitable land= 23,000 km km; with 75% of prehistoric population (112,500 p. of 150,000) population density = 112,500 p 23,000 km km = 4.8 p/km p/km

tato sweet po

moa seal land above

500 meters

taro

103,737.93 sq mi 268,680.00 sq km

southern limit of cultivation

concentrated settlement by ~1300 A.D.

moa

moa

South Island
modern pop. 2,850,000=10 p/km p/km

Overall N.Z. prehistoric pop. density: 150,000 p 268,000 km = .6 p/km

Maori Prehistory

Moa
The biggest moa was the Giant Moa. It was taller than three meters and weighed about 250 kg. The giant moa was one of the biggest birds ever known in the world. However there were smaller moa. The smallest moa species was a bit bigger than a turkey, about half a meter tall. The moa was a forest bird, not a grassland one, as there was little grassland on the two islands. The moa was present in New Zealand when the Maori arrived, after ca. AD 1000. By the time Capt. Cook arrived in 1769, it was extinct or nearly so.

The Little Moa ?

The Big Moa

Warfare in Polynesia: Maori

75% of modern pop. 2,137,500=18 p/km p/km

North Island:
116,000 km km X 20% suitable land= 23,000 km km; with 75% of prehistoric population (112,500 p. of 150,000) population density = 112,500 p 23,000 km km = 4.8 p/km p/km

North Island

initial settlement ~1000 A.D.

greenstone southern limits yam of crop cultivation

tato sweet po

moa seal land above

500 meters

taro

2.
103,737.93 sq mi 268,680.00 sq km

southern limit of cultivation

concentrated settlement by ~1300 A.D.

moa

moa

1. South Island

modern pop. 2,850,000=10 p/km p/km

Overall N.Z. prehistoric pop. density: 150,000 p 268,000 km = .6 p/km

Maori Prehistory

Auckland

Taranaki Hawkes Bay

Estimated number of pa: 4,0006,000 = minimum of about 37

persons per pa

Kalkoura

Auckland

defensive wall dry moat

Hawkes Bay

Taranaki

Kalkoura

(Te Kaitote pa)

(Motuopuhi pa)

Walking down the street

Maori wannabes

R. D. CROSBY: GLOSSARY OF MAORI WORDS

ariki atua haka hakari hapu iwi kai kai huanga kai tangata kumara mata ngohi mere pa puwhara patiti patu pu chief, spiritual leader god war dance feast sub-tribe tribal grouping food eating of relatives cannibalism sweet potato first to die in battle short flat weapon of stone fortified village fighting stage of a pa above palisades small tomahawk short flat weapon musket

rakau Maori rangatira taiaha take tangi taua taurekareka toa toro utu waka taua whakakitekite

Maori weapons chief long sharp-edged club cause, reason (for war) funeral war, raiding party slave warrior scout revenge war canoe formal review of forces

The rangatira of the hapu put together a taua of toa because he wanted to take utu for the kai tangata that the other hapu had carried out on his people. He had ample take for the taua. So, they carried out a haka, he did a whakakitekite, they got in their waka taua carrying their patiti, patu, pu, and taiaha to attack the other pabut they only took a few kumara along because they knew they were going to have a big hakari on the other rangatiras hapu. In the end, the other hapu lost the taua because they didnt have pu!

Lets do the

 HAKA !!!

Origin of War: According to Maori mythology the origin of war was the quarrel which arose among the children of Rangi (Sky Father) and Papa (Earth Mother). Their offspring were: Tane (god of forests and birds, *Tu (supreme war god), Tane attacked Tangaroa, using a net, and *Rongo (god of peace & cultivation), Rongo of the peaceful mind asked that he Tangaroa (fish) might have control to create peace, but Tu

Elsdon Best on the Origin and Causes of Maori War

Causes of War: 1. The Maori saying By women and land are men lost sums up the principal cause. 2. Kanga or kai-upoko, or deadly insults heaped by one person on another. 3. Kohuru, or a treacherous act of slaying. 4. Theft. 5. Kai pirau, a ghoulish act, or digging up someones body and eating it. 6. Makutu, or witchcraft. 7. Sacrifice of someone, carried out to give prestige to certain ceremonies 8. Maroko kokoti ihu waka, or ihu taua, sending out a war party to obtain vengeance and slaying the first person the party found. 9. Neglecting to prepare food for guests (not usually a cause, but sometimes it was). 10. Fashioning fishhooks from the bones of the dead. The Maori psyche: The Maori [show] a singular mixture of suspicion and foolish credulence. They appear ever to suspect a persons motives in all dealings, a feeling doubtless ingrained through many generations of war, discord, and treacherous acts. An example of credulence was accepting an invitation to what turned out to be a treacherous feast. This is a good example of kohuru, or treacherous slaying.

the Fierce-eyed would not consent. And, so the Maori were doomed to war.

haka

haka & waka taua

(waka taua)

Example of war chant:

Kia kutia au! au! Kia wherahia au! au! Kia rere atu te kekeno ki wawhiti Titiro mai ai aaae! aaae! A!!

Elsdon Best on Maori War (continued)

Signs, Omens, Prophecy and Divination: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. When a taua starts out in quest of blood vengeance, the first person met is slain, even if a relative. To neglect war rites is a bad omen. Insubordination before a battle is a bad omen. It is a bad omen for a young warrior on his first war trail not to present the body or clothing from his first kill to the priest of the party. If the war god Maru is seen before the party that is a bad omen. Strange soundsas of women or children laughing or singingare a bad omen. To yawn before a war starts is a sign of cowardice, and therefore a bad sign. An owl heard at a trail crossing means an attacking party is on its way. On the war trail, should a lizard be seen in the earth ovens that is a bad omen. After a battle is won, to stay or camp on the battleground is an evil omen . When the call to battle is made, it is a bad sign if all the warriors do not jump up as one. Before a war, a priest calls upon a spirit which appears in the form of a lizard. He hands it to a warrior who hands it to another, and so on until all have handled it. Should the lizard crawl by itself into the hands of the next man, that is a bad sign. Before a war, if a star seems to pass behind the moon, that is a good sign, and the pa will fall (the star is the attacking party, the pa is the moon). Once a party got this good omen, but built its own pa to carry out the attack. The war party thus became the moon and their pa fell instead to the enemy. If a star is seen near the upper horn of the crescent moon, the war party will succeed but only if it takes many more warriors with it. If a child is born with teeth he will grow up into a great toa, or warrior. Fern stalks were cast onto the ground, and the way they fell could be a good or bad omen.

14. 15.

Weapons

Tewhatewha

Taiaha designs

Taiaha

Pouwhenua

The Taiaha

Jeff Evans on Maori combat abilities (WWII)

The old Maori weapon, the taiaha can be deadly when wielded by an expert. This was proved in a taiaha and rifle and bayonet duel at a small arms weapon training school at Maadi, the Middle East, in 1943. The school was an important center in which soldiers of the 8th Army were given an intensive training course in every infantry weapon, from revolvers to bayonets. In this particular course there were Americans, Free French, English, New Zealanders, Cypriots, and Canadians. In one of the bayonet fighting sessions, Major Don Steward, a New Zealander, remarked to his hardbitten instructors: This is quite a weapon, I only know of one to beat it! Whats that? asked the instructor. The Maori taiaha. What the hell is that? A fire-hardened wooden stave and fending spear, replied Stewart. Derision and scorn followed this remark, which stung the Maori to the quick. As a result, he offered to prove his point. Immediately bets were offered at great odds that the man with a Maori weapon would be dead within seconds against an expert with a rifle-mounted bayonet,. The Maori champion, Lieut. Aubrey Rota, luckily had one with him. Rota was warned that he would have to take full risk of being wounded or worse, and that the incident was to be officially regarded as an exercise in the combat school, where accidents were fairly frequent. There would be no holds barred on either side. Stripping off his tunic, the young Maori stood facing the grinning modern soldier in much the same way his forebears had faced the British redcoats a century before. The signal to start was given. The soldier lunged in and thrust in perfect precision, but each move was parried by the light-footed Maori who bided his time and stood on the defensive. Failing to penetrate the Maoris guard, the other soldier grew increasingly angry as thrust after thrust was tossed aside by the stout wooden weapon. Sometimes it was repelled with such violence that the European soldier was flung sideways. Finally, he crouched and charged in directly at the Maoris midriff. This was Rotas chance. Grasping his weapon firmly, he sidestepped, tipped aside the blind thrust, and caught the lunging figure a smart uppercut in the stomach with the bladed end of the taiaha. In a flash he whirled the weapon about, to crash the business-end on top of his opponents skull. Down he went, to be out of action for some days in the camp hospitalanother regrettable accident from the small arms school. The effect on those present was profound. Money changed hands at great odds, as the jubilant minority collected. The story was repeated with almost unbelievable astonishment throughout the Middle East.

Weapons

Kotaha (Whip-slings)

Patu & Mere

Patu Paraoa

Reti

Tarerarera

Mere

Tewhatewha

Taiaha

Patiti, or your basic tomahawk

Patu

Taiaha

Elsdon Best on Maori War (continued)

Cannibalism:
Cannibalism was common on the war trail, and human flesh was largely consumed by a party raiding an enemys country. In eating the body of an enemy the Maori had no belief that he absorbed the qualities of the person killed. He wished to eat the body because: 1. he was remarkably fond of human flesh as food. 2. eating the body of the victim degraded him and his descendants. It was the source of pure, unadulterated joy to the old-time Maori to be able to say to an enemy, I ate your father or your ancestor, and although it may have taken place ten generations before (i.e., his ancestor ate the enemys body), yet he would speak in the first person singular. The most horrible form of cannibalism, however, was that known as kai pirau, i.e., the eating of the decomposed bodies of enemies. This was done in all cases where there existed an intense feeling of revenge by the men of the taua. On any incursion into enemy territory, the Maori war party practically lived on human flesh. Such prisoners as were taken would be made to carry the flesh of their slain relatives on their backs, to serve as food for their captors. Also they would probably have to carry the dried heads of such of their chiefs as had fallen. When a war party took a pa, or fortified village, they slew many if not all of the inhabitants. The flesh was cut from the bodies of the slain and preserved in their fat. This was for future use. The bones were burned to keep them from being found and taken by the enemy. But previous to the burning, the arm and leg bones were broken and the marrow extracted by means of fern stalks and eaten. In fact, anytime some chiefs of the Maori felt their people were short of food they would raid nearby neighborstrying always to select a different neighbor each timeto kill people for their flesh.

Women in War:

Elsdon Best on Maori War (continued)

Women often accompanied a war party and took part in the fighting, and there were some veritable Amazons among them. Cases are on record in which women alone have fought and oftentimes defeated an enemy. In a book entitled Ancient Maori Life and History, a band of Ngati Pukeko women, aided by only thirty-seven men, defeated the Ngati Manawa tribe in battle at Manga-tara. The Amazons displayed a wonderful courage and knowledge of the art of war. With hair cropped short and bodies nude they charged into the enemy with such force as to throw them into confusion. A woman named Moenga especially distinguished herself, fighting with a paiaka and hewing down the enemy on all sides. It is said that the women were more vindictive than the men, and that many women were adept at wrestling, and able to carry loads of great weight on their backs. Women accompanied Tuhoe when they went north and fought the troops at O-rakau; the daughter of the high chief, Te Whenua-nui, was among them. Several of the women were killed during the siege. In such situations women are noted for their energy and vigor in inciting the fighting men to fierce efforts. During the long marches made during war, throughout the fighting, the hurried retreats, the privations, hunger, cold, and disasters, the women ceaselessly marched, no matter what sufferings had to be endured often over the ghastly mountain country, amid the snows and bitter winter storms of the ranges.

Elsdon Best on Maori War (continued) Maori war proverbs: He toa taua, he toa pahekeheke; ko te toa ngaki kai, e kore e paheke. He who is but a warrior will fall, but he who is brave in the cultivation of food will flourish. He wahine, he whenua, e ngaro ai te tangata. Through women and land are men lost. These are the most usual causes of war. Kaua tatou e tujua kia mate a whare, engari kia mate a ururoa. Let us not linger on and die of old age, rather let us die as does the shark, fighting to the last. Me kawe ki Whare-dura, ki te ururua. Go and fight at Whare-kura where men are plentiful. Do not bother about attacking small places. Taputapu-atea, kia ngohi i te iti, kia ngohi i te rahi. Said to be a contemptuous remark made by warriors who are asked to share the bodies of men they have slain.

Of an estimated maximum of 150,000 Maori in 1810, 33%+ were killed by 1840.