Te Ruki Kawiti

Te Ruki Kawiti (1770s – 5 May 1854) was a prominent Māori rangatira (chief). He and Hōne Heke successfully fought the British in the Flagstaff War in 1845–46.^[1]

He traced descent from Rāhiri and Nukutawhiti of the Ngātokimatawhaorua canoe, the ancestors of the Ngāpuhi. He was born in the north of New Zealand into the Ngāti Hine hapū, one of the subtribes of the Ngāpuhi. From his youth he was trained in leadership and warfare by Hongi Hika.^[2] He was present at the Battle of Moremonui in 1807 or 1808 when many Ngāpuhi were slaughtered by Ngāti Whātua. Almost twenty years later, in 1825, he was at the Battle of Te Ika-a-ranga-nui when it was Ngāpuhi's turn to slaughter Ngāti Whātua in an act of utu, or revenge. He took a number of Ngāti Whātua captive and refused to hand them over to Hongi Hika, preferring instead to return them to their own people to whom he was related.^[3]