The Impact of the Treaty of Waitangi

In 1837 Chief Wiremu Hau said to the English King: Sir…. Will you give us law? The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi brought in the rule of law for all the people of New Zealand. It mean that there was freedom for slaves – mainly women – and the end of cannibalism, inter-tribal war, female infanticide and the killing of prisoners. Disputes between tribes would now have to be settled in the courts.
The end of the Musket Wars saved Maori people from possible extinction. Over 40,000 men, women and children had been killed in over 500 battles between 1800 and 1840, and the loss of so many women and girls meant that there were not enough potential mothers for the Maori population to recover quickly.
Women were in fact the great beneficiaries of the Treaty, as slaves were released and the fear after battles of at worst death, and at best rape, abduction and servitude, was now gone.
https://waikanaewatch.org/2021/02/14/the-impact-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi/

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