The tīpuna of the Waitaha iwi – the chief Hei and his son Waitaha – arrived in Aotearoa on the waka Te Arawa. As the waka passed the entrance of Tauranga Harbour, Hei claimed the land for his descendants. What entrance did the waka pass?

By the nineteenth century, the Waitaha people mainly occupied the land between Tauranga Harbour and the Waiari River, including the area inland up to the Kaimai Ranges. In what century did the Waitaha people occupy land?

It was a beautiful region with rich soil for crops, many birds in the forests, and many eels in the rivers. Today Te Puke is the main town within the rohe of Waitaha. What was found in the rivers?

By the 1830s, Christian missionaries had begun to travel outside Northland to spread their religion and ideas. Reverend Chapman and his family came to the Rotorua area with the idea of establishing a mission. Why did Christian missionaries travel outside Northland?

They brought Hakaraia with them as a helper and interpreter. His Waitaha people were astonished to see him again. It was close to a miracle, and being deeply affected by this, many quickly agreed to be baptised. What does baptised mean?

In Rotorua, Hakaraia helped the Chapmans to build their mission station, along with a school and hospital. He also began to travel on foot to the territories of other iwi, encouraging them to follow a Christian way of life and to give up warfare. What did Hakaraia encourage others to do?

Many people now accepted Hakaraia as their spiritual leader. Most were Waitaha, but some came from other iwi, especially the neighbouring Tapuika. What did many people accept Hakaraia as?

Because of his skills as a negotiator, Hakaraia even convinced the iwi that occupied Waitaha land to allow his people’s return. What is a negotiator?

In 1845, after years of exile, Hakaraia led his people back from Rotorua to the Bay of Plenty. On Tapuika land beside the Kaituna River (near present-day Te Puke), they built a Christian community called Kenana, which means Canaan or the promised land. What was built on Tapuika land?

To his followers, Hakaraia seemed to prove that all of the Bible stories were true. He had risen from the dead by returning from captivity – and like the story about the Christian prophet Moses, he had led his people back to their homeland. What prophet was Hakaraia compared to?

For the next decade, Hakaraia raised his family while his reputation as a devout spiritual leader grew. He continued to preach and to broker peace between warring tribes. What does devout mean?

The colonial government even paid Hakaraia to encourage this difficult yet valuable work. The violent years of the musket wars were long over, but by the 1850s, Māori were worried about a new danger. Large areas of Māori land were being sold to European settlers, often without the consent of all the owners. What was the new danger?

As well, many Māori were dying of Pākehā diseases, like smallpox and measles. Some chiefs thought that these problems could be better dealt with if Māori had their own king to rule alongside the British monarch. What were many Māori dying of?

The movement to establish a Māori king was called the Kīngitanga. At first, the Kīngitanga had entirely peaceful aims: to retain Māori land and restore Māori mana. Hakaraia supported these aims. What were the aims of the Kingitanga?