Lands of Red and Gold #95: Beneath the Long White Cloud
“
Kaua e takahia te mana o te tangata.” (Do not trample the
mana of the people.)
- Māori proverb
* * *
Rīriri Paliri. The Harmony Wars, to use the closest English translation. The wars that ravaged Aotearoa for nearly half a century. The wars that marked the death of the old Māori social order of personal loyalties and sworn warriors, and the rise of the new order of centralised monarchies and proto-states.
Or as George Cleaver-Burns famously remarked, the wars that marked the “Māori assault on the Pacific.”
* * *
22 April 1653
Namalata Bay, Kadavu Island, Fiji
Scorching sun shone out of a cloudless sky. Rewa’s skin had grown darker during the voyage north from Waitangi [Bay of Islands, NZ]. The accounts of far-sailors had been proven true; the sun indeed grew stronger the further north people sailed. He had not been sure whether to believe those tales, any more than he believed the stories of dog-headed men in Rarotonga [Cook Islands] or giant hopping-rats that carried their babies in pouches in Toka Moana [Australia].
Around the ships, the shores of the bay converged ahead of them. Peaceful waters in this bay, mostly sheltered behind a reef. Most of the shoreline was covered in trees, but there were places safe enough to land. Places safe enough for the Ngāti Mahuta to make their home.
As the ships drew nearer to the shore, Rewa began to take in details. The trees were unfamiliar, though with brilliant hues of green. He caught a couple of glimpses of animals that were more familiar: geese [1], a few chickens, and a couple of pigs snuffling around the base of trees. Those last animals were more trouble than they were worth, in Rewa’s opinion. Too much destruction in what they did. They tasted good, but they ruined the land.
A few Itaukei [Fijians] showed around the shore, too. None of them looked openly hostile, which was good. The
ariki whānau’s instructions had been to land, claim to be a trading mission, and then attack when the natives were not expecting it. All the same, Rewa kept alert. No telling what would trigger an attack.
Rewa kept his
taiaha [bladed staff weapon] close, if not obviously visible. Having that weapon gave him some pride; the blade was iron, not bronze or stone. He wished he could carry a musket, even if he knew it for a futile hope. Even back in Aotearoa, back before their defeats, the Ngāti Mahuta had not obtained enough muskets for every warrior. For this Pakanga voyage, only the experienced warriors of the
taua [raiding party] possessed them. None would be provided to an inexperienced warrior like Rewa, who had fought in only one outright battle and two handfuls of raids.
If you had sworn service to the Ngāti Raukawa, they would have given you a musket, a small voice whispered inside him.
Most of the hapū submitted. Only two hapū refused at all, and even then, many of the warriors left them. The Ngāti Raukawa would have accepted you as a warrior.
Rewa did his best to ignore that voice. Young he might be, having only been granted permission to wear
moko [tattoos] after his last battle, but he was still a sworn warrior. He had pledged obedience to Wharerahi, his
ariki whānau, and that service he would keep, or what was his
mana worth? He would follow Wharerahi to Viti [Fiji] in the chief’s search for a new home far from the old wars. He would follow Wharerahi anywhere, so long as the
ariki continued to act properly.
As the ship drew ever nearer to the shore, a question occurred to Rewa. He turned to the more experienced warrior next to him. “Why have the Kehua [Europeans] not conquered Viti before us?”
Āpirana, the warrior sitting beside him, clutched a musket.
He certainly qualified for a musket; the tale of his deeds and raids would last most of a morning [2]. “The Kehua have visited Viti, I hear, but have not sent a
taua to rule. They think that the Itaukei are too warlike and troublesome to be worth conquering [3].”
The elder warrior chuckled, and so did Rewa. “Who can understand how ghosts think [4]?” The Kehua had more muskets than any Māori. They had iron, and steel, and cannon. Why would they be so troubled by warlike Itaukei that they would be afraid to attack them?
The Māori had long known of Viti and the Itaukei, of course. Long before the Kehua reached them. For himself, Rewa had never seen one of them before this voyage. But his father had spoken of a couple of Itaukei
ariki who had come to sell slaves to the Māori in exchange for bronze, clothing and sweet peppers. What had become of those slaves, Rewa had never found out.
Bronze. They think that bronze
is worth trading slaves for! Bronze was old. Bronze was the weak metal. Now, the Ngāti Mahuta had iron and thunder.
Now the Itaukei would feel that thunder.
* * *
To the Māori who suffered through them, the Harmony Wars seemed endless. Raid after raid, repeated cycles of revenge over almost-forgotten slights, progressing to mobilisation of ever-growing armies. Defeated groups pushing into new territory, causing even more strife, or sometimes striking overseas, only to return to raid once more.
The wars started with those
iwi who possessed new weapons striking at those who lacked them. But the wars continued even when all
iwi had firearms and iron. The wars continued despite wave after wave of Kehua plagues striking at Aotearoa. The wars continued despite the severe decline in population both from plagues and from unceasing raids. The wars continued despite increasing fortification which meant that it was said, with only mild exaggeration, that every hill in Aotearoa had its own
pā [fort].
In time, of course, all things end. So the Harmony Wars ended, too. Two main factors were at play. The first was simple consolidation. The wars drove increasing centralisation, with victorious
iwi conquering and absorbing their rivals. This centralisation came hand in hand with a reduction in the independence of the lesser leaders, the
ariki hapū and
ariki whānau. The
ariki iwi became increasingly kinglike, at first discouraging and then ultimately preventing their lesser leaders from launching independent raids. With the scale of armies that could now be mobilised, even a small raid risked provoking a larger war. And while the
ariki iwi had not sworn off war, they wanted such larger wars to be conducted at times of their choosing, not provoked by subordinates. The consolidation into a few larger
iwi also meant that eventually there were not any suitable small targets left: any attempted conquest would have to become a
major war of conquest.
The other factor that ended these wars was changes in motivation for the external trading powers. The Nuttana and the
Compagnie d’Orient were the two principal powers who supplied arms and who conducted commerce with Aotearoa, but they had done so in large part due to the power vacuum left by the Dutch and English being busy fighting with each other. By the late 1670s, with the Anglo-Dutch Wars drawing to a close, the Nuttana and CDO became more inclined to encourage stability within their own areas of influence. They deemed it better to preserve their exclusive market access in stable regions rather than risk ongoing war which would give the English and Dutch more incentive to intervene.
So the amount of warfare during the Harmony Wars started to decline after 1675, as the
iwi increasingly converted into established proto-states who had a common interest in ending the warfare. At least until they had time to recover and rebuild.
The last campaign which would be considered part of the Harmony Wars concluded in 1684. In that year, in southern Te Ika a Maui [Wellington/Hutt Valley, North Island], the traditionalist Ngā Rauru
iwi had had their armies swelled by displaced warriors from further north who had refused to convert to Plirism, and their weapons supply increased by VOC traders. The Ngā Rauru turned their armies against the French-backed, mostly Catholic Taunui and conquered them, completing their conquest of southern Te Ika a Maui, and unwittingly marking the end of the Harmony Wars.
After that, the surviving
iwi had become proto-states, and with the general war exhaustion, a period of relatively stability followed. Low-scale tit-for-tat slaving raids were never completely stamped out, but the
ariki iwi and Nuttana between them sought to prevent those from turning into all-out warfare. Likewise, there were a few holdout areas, particularly in the highland regions of Te Waipounamu [South Island], where displaced warriors had established themselves and sometimes raided into the lowlands. But on the whole, when compared to the previous five decades, the early Ten Kingdoms period was a time of peace.
At the end of the Harmony Wars, Te Ika-a-Māui [North Island] was divided into seven
iwi. These
iwi were:
- the traditionalist, sometimes Dutch-backed Ngā Rauru
iwi in the region they call Te Upoko [5] [Wellington, Hutt Valley and Manawatu];
- the Nuttana-backed, Plirite Ngāti Apa
iwi at Taranaki [Taranaki and much of Wanganui]
- the French-backed, mostly Catholic Rangitāne
iwi at Heretaunga [Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne];
- the Nuttana-backed, nominally Plirite Ngāti Maru
iwi at Te Moana-a-Toi [6] [Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, and parts of Taupo]]
- the traditionalist, expert at gaining firearms from both English and Dutch Waikato
iwi, in the eponymous region [Waikato]
- the Nuttana-backed, largely Plirite Ngāi Tara
iwi in the region they call Tāmaki Makaurau (usually shortened to Tāmaki) [Auckland and southern Northland]
- the traditionalist, sometimes English-backed Ngāti Raukawa
iwi in the region they call Te Hiku [7] [Northland].
Likewise, at the end of the Harmony Wars, Te Waipounamu [South Island] was largely divided into three
iwi, although some alpine areas and the south-western extremities [Fiordland] were in practice uncontrolled [8]. The three iwi were:
- the Nuttana-backed, mostly Plirite Te Arawa
iwi in the region they call Te Tai Poutini [West Coast, Nelson];
- the traditionalist, sometimes English-backed Te Āti Awa
iwi in the region they call Wairau [Marlborough, northern Canterbury]; and
- the French-backed, notionally Catholic Waitaha
iwi in the region they call Otago [southern Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Stewart Island].
* * *
In the time before the Harmony Wars, the Māori tradition of warriors held that they must swear service to the
toka atua (god stone) of their local
ariki (leader), thereby binding themselves to their leader and his [9]
mana. In most circumstances, a sworn warrior would be expected to follow their
ariki unto death; to abandon their leader would be seen as the grossest breach of fidelity and would strip the warrior of all
mana. The only generally accepted reason for abandonment of service (unless discharged by the
ariki) was where the warrior judged that the
ariki had lost
mana, and switched service to another leader as a result. Sometimes a warrior might genuinely believe that their leader had lost
mana, and other times may simply have presented this to avoid stating their real motivation, but any warrior who publicly stated any other reason for leaving service risked being ostracised.
As the Harmony Wars raged, there was a gradual consolidation of central power within an
iwi, considerable social breakdown from the plagues, and a gradual reduction in the expectation of personal loyalty to the lesser leaders, the
ariki hapū and
ariki whānau. Switches of allegiance became much more frequent, particularly to leaders of conquering
iwi, where warriors could plausibly claim that the new
ariki iwi had shown greater
mana.
Naturally, this consolidation did not merely happen at the level of individual warriors. Throughout this era, diplomacy continued alongside warfare. Successful raids and conquests raised the prestige of the victorious
ariki iwi. Sometimes this led to
whānau or entire
hapū switching to a new
iwi, where the
ariki hapū and
ariki whānau recognised the greater
mana of the new
ariki iwi.
Such switches of allegiance were not universally welcomed. Disaffected warriors who rejected this change of
iwi often chose to leave. Such groups often roamed around Aotearoa for a considerable time. Hospitality mattered, and so they often found refuge, for a while. Sometimes, other
iwi might take in these displaced warriors to fight back against their former
iwi. But in many cases the displaced warriors were mistrusted, and encouraged to strike out overseas.
The other main source of displaced warriors came from the conclusions to sieges of enemy
pā. Where possible, raiding warbands tried to capture a
pā by stealth, treachery or surprise attack. When this could not be managed, sieges could become lengthy. During these sieges, surrender would often be negotiated. The usual terms would be that the sworn warriors – and
ariki, if present at the siege – would be given safe-conduct, provided that they promised to quit not just their own lands, but any lands claimed by the attacking
iwi. Otherwise, conquest of a
pā usually meant massacre and ritual cannibalism of the sworn warriors, and enslavement of everyone else who lived in the territory. These displaced warriors, too, often found temporary hospitality elsewhere, but usually elected to pursue opportunities across the waves.
In other words, they became Pakanga.
* * *
“From Valk Land [Eyre Peninsula] in the west to Rarotonga [Cook Islands] [10] in the east, from Papua in the north to Maungahuka [Auckland Islands] in the south, nowhere could be considered safe from Pakanga raids.”
- Claude M. Overton,
A Brief History of Merchant Venturers [11]
* * *
Pakanga was the word used for those who went to make war overseas, for glory, wealth, land or ideally all three. Raiding overseas had been an occasional Māori practice since long before the Harmony Wars began. The Pakanga raids were distinctive not because they were new, but because the combination of large numbers of displaced warriors and improved shipbuilding techniques (borrowed from the Nangu) meant that raiding became a much more large-scale activity.
Early Pakanga raiders were armed mostly with traditional Māori weapons of stone and bronze, since the early defeatees were those who lacked the new technologies. However, with the spread of ironworking and muskets, soon even the defeated warriors who fled overseas were armed with the “iron and thunder” that was so notoriously associated with the Pakanga. The Pakanga usually crossed the seas in twin-hulled, lateen-rigged ships of Nangu inspiration, though coastal raids were often carried out by paddled
waka (canoes) that could be used to approach shores more stealthily.
The devastation delivered in Pakanga raids varied considerably. Smaller raids might be conducted simply for plunder and glory. The largest raids could become outright conquests accompanied by massacres and enslavement. Pakanga would routinely kill opposing warriors – even prisoners – as demonstration of their power, and then consume them in ritual cannibalism. Other men were often massacred or sold as slaves to the Nuttana or back to Aotearoa, with wives being taken from the defeated peoples.
The first raid that can be considered a Pakanga raid was the conquest of Wharekauri [Chatham Islands] in 1645, by defeated Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri warriors who sought refuge there, and killed or enslaved the previous inhabitants. Other early raids hit nearby island groups such as Motu Rānui [Norfolk Island] and Maungahuka [Auckland Islands], locations which like Wharekauri had been previously invaded by several waves of Māori conquerors.
From these small beginnings, Pakanga raids quickly escalated in both scope and frequency. The Pakanga ranged across much of the western Pacific, in Polynesia and Melanesia. The first conquest of part of Fiji was in 1653, and many more raids followed. Attacks on New Caledonia became almost annual events during the late 1650s and throughout the 1660s: Fiji was repeatedly attacked; there were three invasions of Tonga between 1658 and 1671; and many more distant Pacific islands were also attacked.
In the 1650s, the Pakanga started to raid Toka Moana. Their early raids were directed at those regions of the continent they were most familiar with: the Cider Isle and parts of the eastern coast. The early raids on Toka Moana were for wealth and glory only; those seeking permanent land to settle went to small island groups instead. This changed during the later stages of the Harmony Wars, with Mahratta [Mallacoota] conquered in 1666, rapidly followed by a similar conquest of Maliwa [Eden, NSW] in 1667.
These two successful conquests prompted both more attempted invasions, and raids even further into Toka Moana. Some of the Pakanga ventured north into the warmer regions of Toka Moana. Raids here sometimes obtained considerable wealth, and a few bands of Pakanga established themselves as itinerant pirates, but permanent settlements proved impossible. These were spice-producing regions, where the Kehua had a stronger interest and sought to force out any would-be Pakanga settlers, while further north still the Nuttana hunted down most Pakanga pirates who tried to operate out of the many coral cays along the northern reefs [Great Barrier Reef].
While the northern conquests largely failed, the Pakanga had more success nearer their original targets. The islands of the Narrow Sea [Bass Strait] [12] were conquered by 1669, and used as bases for raids further west, such as in coastal Durigal, and even to Valk Land [Eyre Peninsula]. The most intense raids and would-be settlement were on the Cider Isle during the 1670s, to such a degree that it appeared for a time that the Māori might conquer the island entirely. The raids were vigorous enough that they inspired something never seen before: Tjunini and Kurnawal cooperating against outsiders.
Pakanga invaders did conquer some further, smaller eastern coast polities, although these conquests were often temporary. For instance, Yurra Marang [Ulladulla, NSW] was conquered in 1672, but Dutch-backed locals forced the Pakanga occupiers to flee in 1677. Other conquests endured, such as Wanderribee [Narooma, NSW] which was still under Pakanga rule at the end of the Harmony Wars.
Of course, not all of the Māori who went overseas as Pakanga did so as pure raiders. Often they ended up serving as mercenaries instead. That tradition began when the first Māori were recruited as mercenaries to fight for Tjibarr in Toka Moana, in 1647. Others followed this inspiration, preferring the relative certainty of employment as mercenaries to the uncertain fortunes of raiding.
For instance, the second attempted conquest of Tonga in 1664 failed largely because there were also Māori mercenaries fighting to defend the islands. These mercenaries had originally been engaged by one of Tonga’s kings to conquer his local rivals, and continued to serve when the islands came under renewed Pakanga assault. Māori also found further employment as mercenaries in Toka Moana, such as when Tjibarr renewed war with the Yadji in 1673. Māori fought each other on Toka Moana, too; in the great invasions of the Cider Isle during the 1670s, some Māori fought on the side of the Tauiwi [Aururians], largely because they came from
iwi who were longstanding enemies of the
iwi conducting the invasions, and so chose to fight against them.
Hiring Pakanga mercenaries sometimes posed a threat to the hirer, for if dissatisfied, or if they believed that their hirer had lost
mana, they could turn on their employers. Some Māori had found service with the chiefs of Samoa, but after disagreements over their rewards – that is, what they viewed as insufficient gift-giving by the Samoan leaders – they revolted and conquered the islands in 1668.
Some Māori even served as mercenaries in places further afield than those touched by Pakanga raiders. Māori warriors found employment by the Dutch in far western Toka Moana during the 1670s. Some Pakanga even joined as mercenaries in Asia. During the later parts of the Anglo-Dutch Wars, both the English and Dutch found it useful to recruit Māori mercenaries for their Asian operations. For instance, the Dutch recruited Pakanga to defend Formosa from both Southern Ming raiders [13] and an English attempt at conquest.
Pakanga activities, both as raiders and mercenaries, continued as long as the supply of fresh Pakanga was maintained by the Harmony Wars. These wars gradually declined in intensity during the 1670s, with the final conquests in the early 1680s.
Raids continued for a couple of more years after that, until most of the displaced warriors were absorbed within Aotearoa. The last few dissatisfied holdouts struck out for new overseas lands. Maungahuka [Auckland Islands] was conquered (again) by Taunui warriors, the survivors of the last
iwi to be defeated during the Harmony Wars. Other groups of displaced warriors conducted further raids on New Caledonia, some migrants crossed over into eastern Toka Moana, and some particularly adventuresome Pakanga had a brief but eventful career as pirates in the coral islands off Nuttana territory.
The Pakanga raids were, for now, over.
* * *
[1] The Cape Barren goose (
Cereopsis novaehollandiae) native to Toka Moana, domesticated there, imported to Aotearoa by the early Māori, and then traded to a couple of other Pacific islands relatively recently.
[2] Māori warriors have an account of their deeds, describing their raids, battles and other accomplishments, which is traditionally recited at important events.
[3] Historically, the first European to visit Fiji was Abel Tasman in 1642-1643. Allohistorically, the greater Dutch presence in Toka Moana has meant that some of them have explored more of the south-western Pacific. Dutch ships that visited southern or eastern Toka Moana usually needed to sail north around the east coast rather than try to sail west against the strong winds of the Roaring Forties, and some of these ships (briefly) visited Fiji.
[4] Kehua, though the Māori word for Europeans, also means “ghost” or “spirit’; the paleness of Europeans was one reason that Māori adopted that name for them.
[5] Te Upoko (literally, “the head”) is the most widespread, shortened version of the name for this region. The full name is Te Upoko o te Ika-a-Maui, “the head of Maui’s fish”. The Māori call the North Island Te Ika-a-Maui, “the fish of Maui”, and so refer to the southern part of the North Island as the head of that fish.
[6] Te Moana-a-Toi (the Bay of Plenty) means “the sea of Toi”, and was named for Toi-te-huatahi, an early explorer of the region.
[7] Te Hiku is again the popularised, shorter version of a name. The full name is Te Hiku-o-te-Ika, “the tail of the fish [of Maui]”, referring to its position at the tail of the legendary fish that Maui was said to have brought to the surface to form the North Island.
[8] There are two reasons why there are more surviving
iwi in the North Island rather than the South Island. The first is that the North Island had a higher starting population, since the longer growing season allows for higher yields of Toka Moanan crops, particularly red yams. The second is that the competing North Island
iwi were generally more successful at attracting foreign arms suppliers, and were thus able to defend themselves rather than being absorbed by better-armed rivals.
[9] Or, at least, in most cases the leader was male. In very rare circumstances, generally when there were no other suitable kin available, a woman who was already a priestess might be accepted as an
ariki.
[10] Rarotonga is the name of the largest of what are historically called the Cook Islands; allohistorically, the name is also used to refer to the entire of the Cook Islands group. Within the islands, Rarotonga is often referred to as the Big Island (similarly to how Hawai’i is referred to historically).
[11] This quote has been used previously (post
#89) but has been reiterated here.
[12] That is, islands such as King Island and Flinders Island in Bass Strait, which are Tjunini polities.
[13] Allohistorically, China is divided into two dynasties during this period, the You dynasty in the north and a surviving Ming dynasty (southern Ming) in the south. (See post
#51).
* * *
Thoughts?
P.S. A map of Aotearoa is pending, but being rather graphically challenged, it’s taking me a while to come up with something suitable. It will be posted when it’s ready.