Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi

Date

6 February 1840

Category

Politics & governance

Region

New Zealand

Era

Modern

Significance

On 6 February 1840 Captain William Hobson, representing the British Crown, and some 43 to 46 Māori rangatira (chiefs) signed the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) in the Bay of Islands, after a day and night of debate among hundreds of Māori.

Copies were then carried around the country, and by year's end more than 500 chiefs had signed. The treaty is regarded as New Zealand's founding constitutional document and the basis on which Britain proclaimed sovereignty in May 1840. Its three articles ceded sovereignty (kāwanatanga) to the Crown, guaranteed Māori continued possession of their lands and treasures while granting the Crown exclusive right to purchase land, and extended to Māori the rights of British subjects. Crucially, the English and Māori texts diverged: where the English version transferred 'sovereignty', the Māori text guaranteed 'tino rangatiratanga' (full chieftainship or authority) over 'taonga'. These discrepancies, and subsequent land confiscations, fuelled decades of conflict and grievance. The treaty remains central to New Zealand law, politics and Māori-Crown relations, and since 1975 the Waitangi Tribunal has investigated breaches of its principles.

Empires active in 6 February 1840

• Russian Empire
  1721 CE – 1917 CE
• British Empire
  1583 CE – 1997 CE
• French Colonial Empire (Second)
  1830 CE – 1962 CE
• Qing Dynasty
  1636 CE – 1912 CE
• Spanish Empire
  1492 CE – 1976 CE
• Portuguese Empire
  1415 CE – 1999 CE

Related politics & governance events

• The Slavery Abolition Act ends slavery across the British Empire
  28 August 1833 (in force 1 August 1834)
• The Revolutions of 1848 (the Springtime of Peoples)
  1848–1849
• Commodore Perry forces the opening of Japan
  1853–1854 (Treaty of Kanagawa, 31 March 1854)
• Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the birth of the British Raj
  1857–1858 (rebellion); Government of India Act 2 August 1858
• Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand and the Kingdom of Italy
  May–September 1860; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed 17 March 1861
• Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe
  September 1814 – June 1815

Also relevant

• Lin Zexu destroys British opium at Humen
  3 June 1839
• The Tanzimat reforms begin with the Edict of Gülhane
  3 November 1839

Further reading

A History of the Pacific Islands

The wider story

A History of the Pacific Islands

Steven Roger Fischer

Accessible overview of Oceania, including the Tongan maritime empire.

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