[1] Like
everything else in the Māori world, Te Tiriti o Waitangi has a whakapapa and a
history. While Matike Mai o Aotearoa do
not detail that history in their report, they do briefly summarise several
facts about the political understanding of Māori in 1840 that are especially
relevant to the whakapapa and history of Te Tiriti.
In 1840, Te Tiriti flowed naturally
from tikanga, He Whakaputanga and the understanding of mana as a distinct concept of power.
In 1840, Te
Tiriti signified the same wish for the independent yet interdependent political
relationships that are evident in He Whakaputanga.
In 1840, all
Iwi and Hapū continued to know and
exercise their mana as culturally unique and independent polities. In fact those who had signed He Whakaputanga
had just recently reaffirmed that fact, some only a few months before the 6th
of February.
In 1840,
every Iwi had a long history of treaty-making.
In Ngāti
Kahungunu for example, it was a part of the diplomatic lexicon and was
known as mahi tūhono, the work which
brings people together. It was an
expression of mana, and every Iwi and Hapū has examples of treating with
others, both before and after 1840.
Treaty-making
did not fall out of the sky on an unsuspecting people in 1840.
In 1840, in
areas like the north, where the greatest concentration of Pākehā had arrived,
the rangatira had been
concerned for some time about the behaviour of those manuhiri. But their increasing presence did not alter
the fundamental legal and political perceptions which Iwi and Hapū had about
their own authority and place in the world.
In 1840 The
Pākehā presence was still just a mere blip in time, and our people perceived
them according to a view of the world determined by tikanga and the absolute
certainty of mana as the concept of power.
In 1840, Iwi
and Hapū wished to formalise the relationship with the British Crown for a number
of different political and economic reasons, and they were clear about the
tikanga, as well as the political criteria, which that relationship had to meet
if it was to be legitimate in Māori terms.
In fact it
is obvious that in 1840 the rangatira could only act according to tikanga and
commit the people to a relationship with the Crown that was tika
in Māori constitutional and cultural terms.
Logic, common sense and the simple realities of the time all confirm
that.
Just as a marae expects the rangatira of
any manuhiri to monitor the behaviour of his or her rōpu
and ensure it behaves, so the Iwi and Hapū in 1840 treated with the Crown in
the expectation that it would bring order to the Pākehā manuhiri who had come,
and were still coming, onto the “marae” that is Aotearoa.
[1] Thirteenth
edited extract from pp. 50 – 51 of He Whakaaro Here
Whakaumu Mō Aotearoa – The Report of Matike Mai o Aotearoa
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