Roger Childs: Are we a Single Nation or Two Peoples?

There was never a united New Zealand country before 1840. The descendants of the early Pacific Island migrants lived as separate tribes and were often at war with one another. This intermittent conflict culminated in the devastating Musket Wars during the early decades of the 19th century when tens of thousands of men, women and children were slaughtered. Some iwi leaders especially in Northland realized that the constant warring could doom the native peoples unless law and order was brought about. Some chiefs petitioned the British king to intervene to bring peace and unity.
In 1835 there was the so called Declaration of Independence devised by British Resident James Busby. The He Tohu exhibition at the National Library in Wellington says this about the declaration: It was how rangatira (Maori leaders) told the world, back in 1835, that New Zealand was an independent Maori nation. That is nonsense – Busby wrote it; only two chiefs outside Northland signed it; it didn’t do anything and there was no such word as Maori at that time. However it did give the British government something to react to and the follow up was Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi).
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2021/03/roger-childs-are-we-single-nation-or.html

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