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Ngāti Toa

1350 – present
Native nationOceania

A Māori iwi tracing descent from the eponymous ancestor Toarangatira and the Tainui waka, originally centred on Kāwhia in the North Island. Forced south in the 1820s by conflict with other Tainui iwi, Ngāti Toa under the rangatira Te Rauparaha (c. 1765-1849) migrated and conquered territory spanning the southern North Island (Porirua, Kāpiti, Wellington) and the northern South Island (Wairau, Nelson), becoming one of the most significant military and political powers of the Musket Wars era (1806-1845). A living iwi of roughly 9,000 people today, governed by Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira.

A living iwi of the Cook Strait region; its 2012 Treaty settlement acknowledged the losses that followed the musket-wars era.

Borders in 2026 · drawn from 1 sourced border frame
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Further reading

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