Tāwhiao I, Māori King (Matutaera Te Pukepuke Te Paue Te Karato Te-a-Pōtatau Tāwhiao), (May 1822 – 26 August 1894) was leader of the Waikato

Waikato (iwi)

Waikato is a Māori iwi from the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. Actually a confederation of smaller tribes, it is also part of the larger confederation of Tainui, consisting of tribes descended from Polynesian migrants who arrived in New Zealand on the Tainui canoe...

 tribes, the second Māori King and a religious visionary. He was a member of the Ngāti Mahuta 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) of Waikato.
Tāwhiao was born at Orongokoekoea Pā (near Taumarunui

Taumarunui

Taumarunui is a town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on State Highway 4 and the North Island Main Trunk Railway....

) during the Musket Wars

Musket Wars

The Musket Wars were a series of five hundred or more battles mainly fought between various hapū , sometimes alliances of pan-hapū groups and less often larger iwi of Māori between 1807 and 1842, in New Zealand.Northern tribes such as the rivals Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua were the first to obtain...

. His father, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero

Potatau Te Wherowhero

Pōtatau I, Māori King was a Māori warrior, leader of the Waikato tribes, the first Māori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known as simply Te Wherowhero and took the name Pōtatau after he became king...

, was the leader of the Waikato people.