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Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (died June 25, 1860) was a Māori warrior, leader of the Waikato iwi (tribes), the first Māori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known just as ''Te Wherowhero'' and took the name ''Pōtatau'' after he became king in 1858. As disputes over land grew more severe Te Wherowhero found himself increasingly at odds with the Government and its policies. ==Early life== Te Wherowhero was the eldest son of Te Rau-angaanga, who belonged to the senior chiefly line of Ngāti Mahuta and was a prominent war leader before and during the 1807-1845 Musket wars.〔 When Te Wherowhero was born near the end of the 18th century his father had just become the principal war chief of the Waikato tribes. Te Rau-angaanga defeated a much larger coastal Tainui and Taranaki force of about 7000 warriors led by Ngāti Toa chief Pikauterangi in the battle of Hingakaka near Ohaupo. Te Wherowhero's mother, Te Parengaope, was a daughter of a chief of Ngāti Koura, a ''hapū'' (subtribe) of Waikato.〔 Te Wherowhero was thus descended from the captains of both the Tainui and Te Arawa ''waka'' (canoes),〔 which are said to have brought the Māori to New Zealand. Te Wherowhero grew up in a period of relative peace for the Waikato tribes, following his father's victory over Ngāti Toa in the battle of Hingakaka. He was taught traditional lore, first by his father and then at Te Papa-o-Rotu, the Waikato ''whare wananga'' (school of knowledge) at Whatawhata. He lived at Kaitotehe pā on the western bank of the Waikato River, at the base of the Hākarimata Range and opposite Taupiri on the other bank.〔 He had four wives, Whakaawi, Raharaha, Waiata and Ngawaero.〔 His children included Matutaera Tāwhiao, Te Paea Tiaho, Makareta Te Otaota and Tiria (these last two may be the same person).〔 When his fellow Ngāti Mahuta chief and relative Te Uira killed a Ngāti Toa man, and was in return killed by a war party led by Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha, Te Wherowhero joined his father in attacks on Ngāti Toa at Kāwhia.〔 When Marore, a wife of Te Rauparaha, was visiting relatives in Waikato for a ''tangihanga'' in about 1820, Te Wherowhero instigated her murder by Te Rangi-moe-waka.〔 After a series of revenge killings, Te Wherowhero led 3,000 Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto warriors on an overland attack on Kāwhia, while 1,500 of their allies from Whaingaroa (Raglan) attacked by a sea route. Together they defeated Ngāti Toa at Te Kakara, near Lake Taharoa, and Waikawau, south of Tirua Point.〔〔 Te Rauparaha and Ngāti Toa were then besieged at Te Arawi, near Kāwhia Harbour. Some of the Waikato and Maniapoto besiegers did not want to see Ngāti Toa exterminated, so they were permitted to give up their territory at Kāwhia and migrate to northern Taranaki.〔 Te Wherowhero led a large army to Taranaki, partly to pursue Ngāti Toa and partly to rescue Peehi Tukorehu, a Ngāti Maniapoto chief, whose war party was besieged by Taranaki tribes at Pukerangiora, on the Waitara River.〔 Although never forced to retreat, he incurred large costs in human life in sieges which were sometimes unsuccessful.〔 Early in 1822 the Waikato forces suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Ngāti Toa and their allies at Motunui in north Taranaki. Te Wherowhero was almost killed when he refused to retreat and abandon the body of a slain Waikato chief. The intervention of Te Rauparaha saved him, but subsequently he had to engage a number of enemy chiefs in single combat, armed with only a digging implement.〔 Eventually his own people returned and a negotiated truce ensued. Te Wherowhero returned to the Waikato that year in time to take command in an unsuccessful defence of his tribe at Matakitaki (Pirongia) against Ngāpuhi, armed with muskets and led by Hongi Hika on their great rampage through the North Island of 1818 to 1823. The Waikato people settled further south than their usual territory for several years, in fear of further attacks by Ngāpuhi. Te Wherowhero lived at Orongokoekoea on the upper Mokau River, where his wife Whakaawi gave birth to their son Tāwhiao. Peace was made with Ngāpuhi in 1823 and the Waikato re-established themselves on their tribal land.〔 By the time Ngāpuhi re-appeared in the area some ten years later the Waikato had also acquired muskets and could therefore defend themselves successfully. In 1831 Te Wherowhero led an immense war party against the Taranaki Maoris and killed many hundreds of the Ngatiawa tribe, whose lands more than ten years later he claimed by right of conquest.〔 By 1836 Te Wherowhero made peace with the Taranaki tribes.〔 This occurred at a time when missionaries were having a greater impact upon iwi in the Waikato. Te Wherowhero himself regularly attended services, but was never baptised.〔 Waikato's (or more specifically Ngāti Maniapoto's) involvement in the Taranaki war against the Government forces in the 1860s can be traced back to Te Wherowhero's long series of attacks against the Taranaki iwi Te Āti Awa.〔Keenan 2009〕 Te Wherowhero at one stage claimed Te Āti Awa were slaves who lived there only on his sufferance, but he was prepared to end all interest in the land when he was paid 250 pounds.〔Keenan 2009:79〕 Keenan argues that Te Wherowhero never occupied Te Āti Awa's land long enough to constitute possession according to Māori customary lore. Nor did Te Āti Awa ever entirely abandon their land thereby maintaining their occupation rights. During the latter stages of the war in Taranaki it was the involvement of Waikato warriors in bringing food and war materials (lead and powder) that enabled the Taranaki warriors to keep fighting in the infertile, wet and inhospitable uplands.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pōtatau Te Wherowhero」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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