Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand
Encyclopedia
- This article discusses the Declaration of 1835. For information on the process of New Zealand's gaining independence during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, see Independence of New ZealandIndependence of New ZealandThe independence of New Zealand is a matter of continued academic and social debate. New Zealand has no fixed date of independence, instead independence came about as a result of New Zealand's evolving constitutional status. New Zealand evolved as one of the British Dominions, colonies within the...
.
In New Zealand political and social history
History of New Zealand
The history of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centred on kinship links and land. The first European explorer to discover New Zealand was Abel Janszoon Tasman on 13 December 1642...
, the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand , was signed by a number of Māori chiefs in 1835, proclaimed the sovereign
Sovereign
A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority within its jurisdiction.Sovereign may also refer to:*Monarch, the sovereign of a monarchy*Sovereign Bank, banking institution in the United States*Sovereign...
independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
of New Zealand prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
in 1840.
Background and signing
James Busby
James Busby is widely regarded as the "father" of the Australian wine industry, as he took the first collection of vine stock from Spain and France to Australia. Later he become a British Resident who traveled to New Zealand, involved in the drafting of the Declaration of the Independence of New...
, the official British Resident
Resident (title)
A Resident, or in full Resident Minister, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indirect rule....
in New Zealand, drafted a document known as the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand which he and 34 northern Māori chiefs (including Tamati Waka Nene
Tamati Waka Nene
Tāmati Wāka Nene was a Māori rangatira who fought as an ally of the British in the Flagstaff War.-Origin and mana:...
and Bay of Islands brothers; Te Wharerahi
Te Wharerahi
Te Wharerahi was a highly-respected rangatira of the Ipipiri area of Aotearoa/New Zealand.- Origins and mana :...
, Rewa, and Moka 'Kainga-mataa'
Moka 'Kainga-mataa'
Moka Kainga-mataa [Te Kaingamataa/Te Kaingamata/Te Kainga-mata/Te Kainga-mataa] was a Māori rangatira of the Ngā Puhi iwi from Northland in New Zealand...
) signed at Waitangi
Waitangi, Northland
For the main port and settlement at the Chatham Islands, see Waitangi, Chatham IslandsWaitangi is a township located in the Bay of Islands on the North Island of New Zealand. It is located close to the town of Paihia , 60 kilometres north of Whangarei...
on 28 October 1835. By 1839, 52 chiefs had signed.
The chiefs signed this declaration of independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
and in the process established themselves as representing a proto-state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
under the title of the "United Tribes of New Zealand
United Tribes of New Zealand
The United Tribes of New Zealand was a loose confederation of Māori tribes based in the north of the North Island.- History :The confederation was convened in 1834 by British Resident James Busby...
". Henry Williams
Henry Williams (missionary)
Henry Williams was one of the first missionaries who went to New Zealand in the first half of the 19th century....
and George Clarke, (missionaries) translated the Declaration and signed as witnesses James Clendon and Gilbert Mair (merchants) also signed as witnesses.
The Declaration of Independence arose in response to concerns over the lawlessness of British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
subjects in New Zealand and to a fear that France would declare sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
over the islands. At this time a Frenchman, Charles de Thierry
Charles de Thierry
Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry was a nineteenth century adventurer who attempted to establish his own sovereign state in New Zealand in the years before British annexation.-Biography:...
, who titled himself as 'Charles, Baron de Tierry, Sovereign Chief of New Zealand and King of Nuku Hiva
Nuku Hiva
Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as Île Marchand and Madison Island....
' (in the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
) was seeking to establish a colony on 40,000 acres (16,187 hectares) he claimed to have purchased in the Hokianga
Hokianga
Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as The Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand....
. The document also arose from movements in Māori society where from 1816 onwards a number of Northern Maori chiefs had made visits to the colonies in New South Wales and Norfolk Island as well as to England leading to discussions about unifying the tribes and formation of a Maori government. Maori had also become involved in international trade and owned trading ships and in 1834, the year prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the chiefs had selected a flag for use on ships originating from New Zealand. This flag — amended slightly when officially gazetted — became the first distinctively New Zealand flag
Flag of New Zealand
The flag of New Zealand is a defaced Blue Ensign with the Union Flag in the canton, and four red stars with white borders to the right. The stars represent the constellation of Crux, the Southern Cross....
. The unamended version, with eight-pointed stars and black fimbriation, is still widely used by Maori groups.
The Declaration and after
The hereditary chiefs and heads of the tribes of the Northern parts of New Zealand declared the constitution of an independent state. They agreed to meet in Waitangi each year to frame lawLaw
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
s, and invited the southern tribes of New Zealand to "lay aside their private animosities" and join them.
The signatories sent a copy of the document to King William IV of the United Kingdom
William IV of the United Kingdom
William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...
(reigned 1830–1837), asking him to act as the protector of the new state. The King had previously acknowledged the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand, and now recognised the Declaration of Independence, in a letter from Lord Glenelg
Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg
Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg PC FRS was a Scottish politician and colonial administrator.-Background and education:...
(the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet level position responsible for the army and the British colonies . The Department was created in 1801...
) dated 25 May 1836.
The Declaration was not well received by the Colonial Office, and it was decided that a new policy for New Zealand was needed as a corrective.
It is notable that the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
was made between the British Crown and "the chiefs of the United Tribes of New Zealand" in recognition of their independent sovereignty which continued after 1840 to the extent that the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand
United Tribes of New Zealand
The United Tribes of New Zealand was a loose confederation of Māori tribes based in the north of the North Island.- History :The confederation was convened in 1834 by British Resident James Busby...
was flown at the Pukawa
Pukawa
Pūkawa / Pūkawa Bay is a bay and a small township on the western shores of Lake Taupo in New Zealand. It is off State Highway 41 between Turangi and Taumarunui. It is home of the Ngati Manunui hapu of Ngāti Tūwharetoa and the newly-opened Manunui-a-Ruakapanga marae, which was opened on 18 November...
hui when the Maori King was appointed in 1857.
The Māori text - Explanations
The Māori text of the Declaration was made by the tino rangatira (hereditary chiefs) of the northern part of New Zealand and uses the term Rangatiratanga to mean independence, declaring the country a "whenua Rangatira" (independent state) to be known as The United Tribes of New Zealand (Te Wakaminenga o nga Hapu o Nu Tireni).The translation of the second paragraph is "that all sovereign power and authority in the land" ('Ko te Kingitanga ko te mana i te w[h]enua') "reside entirely and exclusively in the hereditary chiefs and heads of tribes in their collective capacity", expressed as the United Tribes of New Zealand.
The terms Kingitanga and mana
Mana
Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....
were used in claiming sovereignty of the state to the assembly of the hereditary chiefs and it was also declared that no government (kawanatanga
Kawanatanga
Kāwanatanga is a word from the Māori language of New Zealand. The word kāwanatanga was first used in the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand, 1835. It reappeared in 1840 when the Treaty of Waitangi was being translated from English into Māori. It was used there to translate the concept of...
) would exist except by persons appointed by the assembly of hereditary chiefs.
The Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
was made between the British Crown and the Chiefs of the United Tribes of New Zealand
United Tribes of New Zealand
The United Tribes of New Zealand was a loose confederation of Māori tribes based in the north of the North Island.- History :The confederation was convened in 1834 by British Resident James Busby...
.
Legal effect
There is some debate as to whether the Declaration still has effect in New Zealand. Most legal commentators state that the claim to independence lasted only until the signing of the Treaty of WaitangiTreaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
in 1840. Recently the Nga Puhi iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
in Northland requested the Waitangi Tribunal
Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975...
rule on whether the tribe had in fact relinquished sovereignty in 1840 when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Historian Paul Moon
Paul Moon
Paul Moon is a New Zealand historian and a professor at the Auckland University of Technology. He is a prolific writer of New Zealand history and biography, specialising in Māori history, the Treaty of Waitangi and the early period of Crown rule....
stated that the tribe is unlikely to be able to take the claim much further because "the tribe has misunderstood how treaties work."
Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
guarantees to the chiefs their continued chieftainship, and ownership of their lands and treasures (taonga). It also specifies that Māori could sell land only to the Crown. Most New Zealanders consider the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
as the founding document of the nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
of New Zealand, with formal sovereignty vested in the British Crown (the Crown in Right of New Zealand
Monarchy in New Zealand
The monarchy of New Zealand also referred to as The Crown in Right of New Zealand, Her Majesty in Right of New Zealand, or The Queen in Right of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of the Realm of New Zealand,...
from 1947), but the existence of different versions of the Treaty, in both Māori and English, and its brevity, leave this subject to arguments over the preferred interpretation.
But de facto, the federation of independent tribes became subsumed into a new political body after 1840, regardless of the legality or legitimacy of this process. Thus, the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
voided the Declaration for all practical purposes; the Treaty rather than the Declaration provides the legal foundation of claims for the redress of historical wrongs. For this reason, constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
yers regard the Declaration as an historical document that no longer has legal force.
As of October 2010, the Ngāpuhi
Ngapuhi
Ngāpuhi is a Māori iwi located in the Northland region of New Zealand, and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands and Whāngārei.Ngāpuhi has the largest affiliation of any New Zealand iwi, with 122,214 people registered , and formed from 150 hapu, with 55 marae.-Foundations:The founding...
's claim that sovereignty was not given up in their signing of the Treaty of Waitangi is being investigated by the Waitangi Tribunal
Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975...
. The Waitangi Tribunal
Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975...
, in Te Paparahi o te Raki inquiry (Wai 1040) is in the process of considering the Māori and Crown understandings of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga / The Declaration of Independence 1835 and Te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
1840.
Many of the arguments being used are outlined in Paul Moon
Paul Moon
Paul Moon is a New Zealand historian and a professor at the Auckland University of Technology. He is a prolific writer of New Zealand history and biography, specialising in Māori history, the Treaty of Waitangi and the early period of Crown rule....
's 2003 book Te Ara Ki Te Tiriti: The Path to the Treaty of Waitangi, which argued that not only did the Maori signatories have no intention of transferring sovereignty, but that at the time the British government and James Busby did not wish to acquire it and that the developments and justifications leading to the present state were later developments. It is estimated that the hearings will last between 4 and 6 years, and may serve a serious precedent for all Maori tribal groups if the Tribunal recognizes Ngāpuhi sovereignty. A common Ngāpuhi interpretation of the Declaration of the United Tribes is that the British government was simply recognizing Maori independence and putting the world on check, merely re-asserting sovereignty that had existed from "time immemorial".
External links
- Declaration of Independence at the Constitution Room of Archives New Zealand
- Text of the declaration
- CIA World Factbook - New Zealand
- http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/moka-te-kainga-mataa - Biography of chief Moka Te Kainga-mataa; signatory to the Declaration of Independence, Hobson's Proclamations, and a participant in the Treaty of Waitangi discussions.