Māori King Movement

The Māori King Movement, called the Kīngitanga in Māori, is a movement that arose among some of the Māori iwi (tribes) of New Zealand in the central North Island in the 1850s, to establish a role similar in status to that of the monarch of the British colonists, as a way of halting the alienation of Māori land. The Māori monarch technically operates in a non-constitutional capacity with no legal or judicial power within the New Zealand government, but nonetheless, is a major political and cultural figure in the country for many of its 5 million people, wielding significant lobbying power and mana. Reigning monarchs retain the position of paramount chief of several iwi and wield some power over these, especially within Tainui. The current Māori monarch, Tūheitia Paki, was elected in 2006 and his official residence is Tūrongo House at Tūrangawaewae marae in the town of Ngāruawāhia. Tūheitia is the seventh monarch since the position was created and is the continuation of a dynasty that reaches back to the inaugural king, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero. The movement arose among a group of central North Island iwi in the 1850s as a means of attaining Māori unity to halt the alienation of land at a time of rapid population growth by European colonists. The movement sought to establish a monarch who could claim status similar to that of Queen Victoria and thus allow Māori to deal with Pākehā (Europeans) on equal footing. It took on the appearance of an alternative government with its own flag, newspaper, bank, councillors, magistrates and law enforcement. But it was viewed by the colonial government as a challenge to the supremacy of the British monarchy, leading in turn to the 1863 invasion of Waikato, which was partly motivated by a drive to neutralise the Kīngitanga's power and influence. Following their defeat at Ōrākau in 1864, Kīngitanga forces withdrew into the Ngāti Maniapoto tribal region of the North Island that became known as the King Country.[page needed] The Māori monarch's influence has not been as strong as it could be, partially due to the lack of affiliation to the Kīngitanga of key iwi, most notably Tuhoe, Ngāti Porou, and the largest iwi of all, Ngāpuhi.