Ngāti Rongomaiwahine is a Māori 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,...

 (tribe) traditionally centred in the Mahia Peninsula

Mahia Peninsula

The Mahia Peninsula is located on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, between the cities of Napier and Gisborne.-Geography:The peninsula is long and wide rising to its highest point at Rahuimokairoa reaching about above sea level. Mahia was initially an island which over time, has had...

 on the North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

 of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. In the 2006 census, 4,254 people claimed an affiliation with Ngāti Rongomaiwahine.

The iwi is descended from Rongomaiwahine. She was descended from Ruawharo, the tohunga

Tohunga

In the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, religious or otherwise. Tohunga may include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, builders, teachers and advisors. The equivalent term in Hawaiian culture is kahuna...

 of the Tākitimu

Takitimu

In several Māori traditions, the Tākitimu was one of the great Māori migration canoes that brought Polynesian migrants to New Zealand from Hawaiki. It was one of the seven canoes in the "Great Fleet hypothesis" proposed by historian Stephenson Percy Smith .-Māori Traditions:The Tākitimu appears in...

, and Popoto, commander of the Kurahaupō

Kurahaupo

In Taranaki tribal tradition, Kurahaupō is known as 'Te Waka Pakaru ki te moana' or 'The Canoe broken at sea', and was reputed to have arrived in Aotearoa in the same generation as the other great migration vessels of the Māori like Aotea, Mataatua, Takitimu, Tainui, Arawa etc...

. In Māori tradition

Maori mythology

Māori mythology and Māori traditions are the two major categories into which the legends of the Māori of New Zealand may usefully be divided...

s, Rongomaiwahine was known to have had two husbands: Tamatakutai and Kahungunu. With Tamatakutai, she bore two daughters, Rapuaiterangi and Hinerauiri. With Kahungunu (well known as the eponymous ancestor of Ngāti Kahungunu

Ngati Kahungunu

Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke’s Bay and Tararua and Wairārapa regions....

) she bore five children: Kahukuranui, Rongomaipapa, Tamateakota, Mahakinui and Tauheikuri.

Historically, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine have operated successful whaling stations. Today, fishing remains an important industry, along with the operation of sheep and cattle stations. Rongomaiwahine Iwi Trust aka R.I.T is the administrative body of the iwi.