Te Rauparaha

Te Rauparaha
Sketch of Te Rauparaha
Born	c.1768 Kāwhia, Waikato, Aotearoa
Died	27 November 1849 (age 80–81) Ōtaki, Colony of New Zealand
Buried	Rangiātea Church, Ōtaki, probably reinterred on Kapiti Island
Allegiance	Ngāti Toa
Years of service	1819–1848
Battles/wars	Musket Wars Wairau Affray

Te Rauparaha (c.1768 – 27 November 1849)^[1][2] was a Māori rangatira, warlord, and chief of the Ngāti Toa iwi. One of the most powerful military leaders of the Musket Wars, Te Rauparaha fought a war of conquest that greatly expanded Ngāti Toa southwards, receiving the epithet "the Napoleon of the South". He remains one of the most prominent and celebrated New Zealand historical figures.

Born in Kāwhia in the 1760s, he participated in land sale and negotiations with the New Zealand Company at the beginning of the colonisation of New Zealand. Te Rauparaha's conquests eventually extended Ngāti Toa authority from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson.^[3]

An early signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi, Te Rauparaha was later central to the Wairau Affray in the Marlborough District, considered by many to be the first of the conflicts in the New Zealand Wars. Before he died he directed the building of Rangiātea Church in Ōtaki, a town north of Wellington conquered by Ngāti Toa.

Te Rauparaha's legacy lies in his transformation of Ngāti Toa from a small regional tribe to one of the richest and most powerful in Aotearoa, permanently changing Māori tribal structures.^[4] He was also an accomplished composer of haka, with his most famous work, "Ka Mate", being arguably the most famous haka of all due to its widespread performance in sport,^[5] especially by the All Blacks. In 2005, a panel of historians and journalists ranked Te Rauparaha 16th out of the 100 most influential figures in New Zealand history.