Treaty of Waitangi

The British Queen Victoria sent a man named William Hobson to try to make peace with the Maori  in New Zealand. She sent him to try and convince the Maori chiefs to sign a TREATY or legal agreement. On the 6th of february 1840 in Waitangi in the Bay of Islands 43 chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi.

The treaty was trying to solve some of the problems in New Zealand at that time.

One of the problems was The musket Wars, where Maori tribes were fighting one another with guns they had got from the British traders. Another problem was that Immigrants were wanting land. Land sharks, (people who were trying to make lots of money by getting land cheaply then selling it for lots of money) were causing hassles and trouble. The last problem was lawlessness where Europeans were committing crimes making NZ dangerous.

On the day, the 6th of February there were around about 50 chiefs. The day before on February 5th they had spent all day discussing and translating the treaty trying to figure out whether to sign it or not.  

The Treaty of Waitangi has got 3 principles. They are Protection (making sure they don’t fight and that there is peace), Partnership (letting everyone contribute to running New Zealand) and Participation (working together)

That helped them to work and get it done.

A problem about the Treaty of Waitangi is the translation. The English version means different things to the Maori version. This is why the Maori say it is a key to show that they agreed certain things, and that should be honoured.