r14/11/19, Thursday
Historians argue that understanding the causes of significant events are much more important than just remembering dates, facts and figures about things in the past. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, creating an agreement between the Maori and the British. The Treaty of Waitangi was needed to maintain peace and construct laws between the Maori and British in New Zealand. Despite the treaty happening in the 1840s, it remains important in Aotearoa.
In the 1830s in New Zealand, a lot of lawless behaviour was happening in Kororareka also known as Russell Bay due to the lack of law and rules. Before the treaty was established there were a lot of diseases, prostitution and fights between the whalers, since there were no rules preventing them. The Maori are taking all of the damage caused by the whalers who arrived in Kororareka. The treaty was needed to prevent all of the lawlessness and to create trade laws between both parties.
The missionaries were trying to help the Maori protect their rights. This is important to building the treaty because it gives the Maori more reasons to sign the treaty, it also builds trust between the two parties. Some of the things they did to gain the trust of the Maori are they taught them how to read and write Te Reo, they shared farming techniques and introduced new technology to them and the missionaries bought land from the Maori as trustees. When the trade was made, it helped the missionaries and Maori strengthen their friendship and it helps the Maori establish their rights, therefore, giving the Maori sign the treaty easily.
Maori tribes were forced to trade crops and flax for muskets in order to fight back, the Maori used the Muskets to either fight other Maori tribes or get revenge and over 20,000 people were killed because of the musket wars. In this paragraph, I’m trying to prove that when the muskets were introduced, wars became more often between the Maori. After the muskets were introduced the land boundaries in New Zealand changed. A balance of power was created between the tribes when they got access to muskets. The Musket Wars caused more violence and deaths since there were no laws to restrain the trading of muskets. The treaty helped this situation by providing laws around the trading if muskets.
Was there anything in place before the Treaty of Waitangi? Interestingly, there was something place called the Declaration of Independence. It was signed on October 28, 1835, in the home of James Busby. With the Declaration, the Maori could trade in legal terms since they have a flag and they could express their Rangatiratanga, it made the Maori an independent country under the authority if United Tribes of New Zealand. After the Declaration was signed, a meeting was supposed to take place but the Maori didn’t attend the meeting. No laws and rules were created to protect the Maori as agreed to in the Declaration. Trading would be harder since they don’t have a flag to represent themselves. The Treaty was needed to create new laws to protect the Maori.
