Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie listener Discretion advised. There was
Speaker 1: no easy solution. As Tefuero Fera received reports about attacks
Speaker 1: on his Maori allies in the coastal town of Watara,
Speaker 1: he knew his options were extremely limited. For nearly two
Speaker 1: years he had walked a meticulously diplomatic line with his
Speaker 1: immensely powerful adversaries, but by March of eighteen sixty tensions
Speaker 1: had boiled over due to a complex series of deals, betrayals,
Speaker 1: and armed conflicts. And although Tefuera Fero likely got little
Speaker 1: amusement from it, he surely recognized the parallels to the
Speaker 1: ill fated military campaign he had led forty years prior. Because,
Speaker 1: just like that pivotal point of the Musket Wars, this
Speaker 1: risky battle was once again based in the Taranaki region
Speaker 1: of New Zealand's North Island. However, while the location was
Speaker 1: basically the same, many other elements had changed. At this point.
Speaker 1: Tefuerafara was not merely the rangetira or chief of multiple
Speaker 1: hapu or subtribes, as well as the overall leader of
Speaker 1: the waikatu Ewi or tribe. He was also the first
Speaker 1: Maori king to have ever been crowned. Furthermore, unlike in
Speaker 1: his warrior heyday, his opponents were no longer rival tribes
Speaker 1: and chieftains, but European settler militias, the colonial government Queen
Speaker 1: Victoria had installed in Auckland, and the British monarchy itself.
Speaker 1: The stakes were incredibly high and the sides were exceedingly
Speaker 1: uneven on the colonial side. In addition to locally based militia's,
Speaker 1: thirty five hundred Imperial soldiers were reportedly directed from Australia
Speaker 1: to Taranaki. Most sources peg Maori defensive forces as varying
Speaker 1: between several hundred to fifteen hundred at most. The troops
Speaker 1: sent by the Victorian government not only vastly outnumbered their
Speaker 1: Maori opponents, they also had far superior firepower. This included
Speaker 1: an abundance of individual muskets and rifles, plus, if Maori
Speaker 1: scouts's reports were accurate, the supports of the Royal Australian Navy.
Speaker 1: What was Tifuerofuero to do. Directly opposing the British crown
Speaker 1: and its proxies could escalate the conflict into a full
Speaker 1: blown war. In addition to obviously causing bloodshed, such large
Speaker 1: scale violence could alienate his allies, give further ammunition to
Speaker 1: his rivals, and destroy collective Maori power. But if Tefuera
Speaker 1: Fuero did nothing, there would still likely be ample bloodshed,
Speaker 1: and he might alienate numerous Maori factions while undermining his
Speaker 1: authority by coming off as an ineffectual leader to make
Speaker 1: Tifuera Waro's predicament even harder. He was by this point
Speaker 1: quite ill and apparently unable to leave his pa or
Speaker 1: fortified village once again. With his life, his tribe's fortunes,
Speaker 1: and New Zealand's hierarchy all hanging in the balance, Tifuera
Speaker 1: Wharo had to choose a path forward. Who would have
Speaker 1: thought that the days decades earlier of him single handedly
Speaker 1: fighting off dozens of enemies would have been so much easier.
Speaker 1: I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. The process
Speaker 1: of creating a Maori monarchy is fascinating due to how
Speaker 1: it bridged cultures, spawned conflict, and elevated a king who
Speaker 1: initially didn't even want to be king. So in many ways,
Speaker 1: Part two of our story is actually about the Maori
Speaker 1: king movement, a story that highlights the ultimate first king,
Speaker 1: Tefuero Fuero, but also the work of several influential kingmakers. Fascinatingly,
Speaker 1: the first of these king makers, tami Hanna te Roparaha,
Speaker 1: was the son of Tefuera Fuero's form rival te Roparaha,
Speaker 1: the other main formidable chief we had met in Part one.
Speaker 1: His son, Tamahana, was by most accounts, a clever, worldly
Speaker 1: leader who learned a great deal about Maori and New
Speaker 1: Zealand history from his renowned warrior father to quickly recap
Speaker 1: some significant events that are relevant to his later efforts.
Speaker 1: Polynesians first voyaged to New Zealand via canoe around twelve
Speaker 1: fifty and began settling in greater numbers by about thirteen fifty.
Speaker 1: These hardy explorers formed communities that eventually developed distinct Maori
Speaker 1: traditions and social structures. Centuries later, European sailors visited. The
Speaker 1: grouping of over six hundred islands, and the related etymology
Speaker 1: of New Zealand provides some insight into the seeds of
Speaker 1: chaos that eventually sprouted into political upheaval and a transcontinental
Speaker 1: battle over Maori rights and autonomy In sixteen forty two,
Speaker 1: Dutch explorer Abel Tasman spotted the main North and South Islands,
Speaker 1: and despite him supposedly never venturing ashore during that journey,
Speaker 1: cartographers back in the Netherlands, who learned of his quote
Speaker 1: unquote discovery went ahead and named the whole island grouping
Speaker 1: Nova Zeelandia, after a Dutch province. It's not as if
Speaker 1: Maori individuals didn't already have names for their chosen homelands.
Speaker 1: The Maori Appalachian our Tiuroa, which now often is used
Speaker 1: interchangeably with New Zealand in reference to the country, has
Speaker 1: origins dating back to those first Polynesian canoes. However, our
Speaker 1: Tiaroa was purportedly only used by Maori individuals to refer
Speaker 1: to the North Island, while the South Island had other names.
Speaker 1: All to say, while Maori tribes shared countless cultural attributes,
Speaker 1: there's little evidence that they had a firm concept of
Speaker 1: being part of one collective nation, or at least not
Speaker 1: in the same sense as many Western countries at that time. Evidently,
Speaker 1: the name New Zealand was used fairly commonly by European
Speaker 1: colonists and even some Maori groups during Tamihana's lifetime. This
Speaker 1: effectively underlined the complicated and often awkward dynamics of the
Speaker 1: island's nineteenth century power structures. This was especially apparent in
Speaker 1: the somewhat haphazard Declaration of Independence of New Zealand in
Speaker 1: eighteen five. Thirty four Northern chiefs signed the document as
Speaker 1: quote the United Tribes of New Zealand, along with the
Speaker 1: Crown's chosen British resident at the time, but as quite
Speaker 1: a few scholars argue, the declaration was less a momentous
Speaker 1: act of revolution and more a self aggrandizing move by
Speaker 1: the British resident and a relatively knee jerk response to
Speaker 1: a commercial shipping issue relating to proper flag usage. Historians
Speaker 1: and writers seemed to almost universally agree that the Declaration
Speaker 1: of Independence was actually far less consequential than the Treaty
Speaker 1: of Vitangi that came five years later. This eighteen forty
Speaker 1: agreement was the result of many Northern chiefs wanting for
Speaker 1: detection from possible French annexation, and agents of the British
Speaker 1: Crown happily assisted by drafting a deal that greatly increased
Speaker 1: British authority over New Zealand, specifically that treaty contained three
Speaker 1: paradigm shifting articles. It essentially gave governmental oversight of New
Speaker 1: Zealand to the Queen of England. Victoria, gave the British
Speaker 1: Crown the exclusive right to purchase Maori land, and in
Speaker 1: return gave Maori people the protection and rights of British citizens.
Speaker 1: As Tamihana ostensibly surmised, and as the last one hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty six years of subsequent history have confirmed, those
Speaker 1: provisions are a whole lot to unpack. The Treaty of
Speaker 1: Fitangi has long been the subject of immense legal tal debate,
Speaker 1: partly due to the two different versions that the British
Speaker 1: consul circulated, one written in English and the other written
Speaker 1: in Maori, which, as you can probably guess, led to
Speaker 1: crucial discrepancies in meaning, although some accounts attribute this to
Speaker 1: intentional deception on the part of the British. More in depth,
Speaker 1: modern scholarship argue that the British missionary charged with translating
Speaker 1: the treaty actually did do a pretty thoughtful job, but
Speaker 1: due to vast societal differences, such as one side having
Speaker 1: a long history of written contracts and the other operating
Speaker 1: almost entirely on oral and verbal agreements, there were simply
Speaker 1: no direct or ideal translations available in certain cases. For example,
Speaker 1: as many historians have noted, the English version of the
Speaker 1: treaty arguably handed complete sovereignty over to the British Crown,
Speaker 1: while the Maori version seemed to create what many North
Speaker 1: Island chiefs may have interpreted as a system in which
Speaker 1: they would share power with an incoming governor appointed by
Speaker 1: Queen Victoria. As you might imagine, the Treaty of Waitangi
Speaker 1: incited rampant debate among Maori tribal leaders. Many didn't sign it,
Speaker 1: including Tefuero Fuero. Tay Roparaja did supposedly thinking it guaranteed
Speaker 1: him his own domain, but he soon learned a harsh
Speaker 1: lesson after the colonial government tried to imprison him over
Speaker 1: a land disagreement in eighteen forty three, leading to what's
Speaker 1: known as the Wiro of Frey. This violent skirmish reportedly
Speaker 1: had a big impact onte Roparaja's son. He recognized that
Speaker 1: the more abstract sovereignty disagreements would certainly continue to create issues,
Speaker 1: but the question of land rights was seemingly the most
Speaker 1: pressing problem. As numerous scholars point out, the Maori did
Speaker 1: not historically share the same notions as the British in
Speaker 1: terms of owning land in perpetuity, so the Crown attempting
Speaker 1: to buy huge swaths and control all land purchasing rights
Speaker 1: in New Zealand was a rude awakening. Unsurprisingly, British officials
Speaker 1: aggressively pursued the issue, while Queen Victoria eventually dispatched an
Speaker 1: edict in eighteen forty six that all land not actively
Speaker 1: occupied by Maori tribes automatically belonged to the Crown. Like
Speaker 1: his elders, Tamahana realized that by being separated from their lands,
Speaker 1: his people were losing their freedoms, livelihoods, and ways of life.
Speaker 1: In Tamihana's mind, the tribes needed a better strategy and
Speaker 1: better leverage, which required a better understanding of what they
Speaker 1: were up against. So, in an impressively proactive move in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty, he sailed to meet Queen Victoria in person
Speaker 1: to see her monarchy in action. He seemingly kept things
Speaker 1: cordial while there, but his gears must have been turning
Speaker 1: because by the end of his trip he'd reached a
Speaker 1: clear conclusion. To deal with a monarch, the Maori needed
Speaker 1: a monarch of their own. Tamihna returned to New Zealand
Speaker 1: eager to get a monarchy started. According to multiple accounts,
Speaker 1: he had plenty of willing listeners, since most Maori tribes
Speaker 1: were gravely concerned about holding onto their lands and traditions,
Speaker 1: especially considering Britain's colonial tactics. While the Crown obviously had
Speaker 1: ample military might at their disposal, economic pressure was plenty
Speaker 1: effective as an initial motivator. Many chiefs reportedly felt compelled
Speaker 1: to sell land to the British for a range of
Speaker 1: interconnected reasons, including supporting those in their subtribes who had
Speaker 1: become impoverished because of foreign born infectious diseases, and changing
Speaker 1: laws that favored outsiders of predominantly European descent. However, despite
Speaker 1: all of these collective grievances, it was tough for Tamihana
Speaker 1: to convince many tribe chiefs of the value of elevating
Speaker 1: a single Maori king. For one thing, there were still
Speaker 1: so many tribal rivalries, even just on the North Island,
Speaker 1: where Tamihana focused his efforts. Geography was another issue. Tribes
Speaker 1: were spread across the North Island, and the amount of
Speaker 1: rugged terrain between them meant that traveling by horseback to
Speaker 1: communicate and coordinate took considerable time and effort. Tamihana was determined,
Speaker 1: as were other like minded early backers of the monarchy plan,
Speaker 1: who collectively became known as the Kingitannga or Maori King movement.
Speaker 1: The group gained momentum by resurrecting the tradition of holding
Speaker 1: runanga or large war councils. Some of these councils were massive,
Speaker 1: like a meeting of two thousand Northern Maori leaders in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty four. Still, most accounts from that time revealed
Speaker 1: that the movement continually bumped up against their biggest eye obstacle, ideology.
Speaker 1: Many chiefs struggled to wrap their heads around the idea
Speaker 1: of a king. Why should they copy European structure? Would
Speaker 1: creating an alternate monarch to queen Victoria provoke a hostile takeover?
Speaker 1: Wouldn't that all further erode the Maori way of life.
Speaker 1: Tami Hana and his collaborators purportedly argued that the larger
Speaker 1: goal wasn't to fully mirror or adopt British culture. It
Speaker 1: was actually the opposite, to create a position that could
Speaker 1: give them consolidated negotiating power to protect and preserve Maori customs.
Speaker 1: But even for Maori leaders sympathetic to that reasoning, there
Speaker 1: was still an elephant in the room. If they did
Speaker 1: agree on a king, who would it be? Here Another
Speaker 1: figure of the king, Tanga Tamihana's cousin, Matene te Fuifwi,
Speaker 1: was instrumental if we if we reportedly studied the ancestry
Speaker 1: and deeds of hundreds of possible king candidates. He then
Speaker 1: traveled extensively with his cousin to persuade those deemed suitable
Speaker 1: to take the position. But in spite of his well
Speaker 1: researched pitch and the chance to make royal history, all
Speaker 1: of the chiefs he approached declined. Some simply weren't aligned
Speaker 1: with the movement, while others cited regional authority issues. For instance,
Speaker 1: here is how one chief replied, quote, you are correct.
Speaker 1: I am a chief, a descendant of your ancestors. However,
Speaker 1: the problem is that my pedigree adheres to only one people.
Speaker 1: My mountain does not move. I do not agree. But
Speaker 1: like his determined cousin, and if we kept at it,
Speaker 1: the rights leader definitely had to take many specific boxes
Speaker 1: first and Foremost, he had to have the authority and
Speaker 1: connections to win the support of enough tribes. His own
Speaker 1: tribe also needed enough resources to host all manner of
Speaker 1: royal functions, and the right candidate had to be wise, careful,
Speaker 1: and charismatic enough to represent a wide range of Maori
Speaker 1: interests while simultaneously dealing with the British. In other words,
Speaker 1: the first king had to be someone with the utmost mana.
Speaker 1: As we explored in Part one, mana is a complex,
Speaker 1: sweeping Maori term, often interpreted as an individual's overall power, authority, prestige,
Speaker 1: her Maori custom, and familial lore. Seemingly, no living chief
Speaker 1: had more mana than the venerated Tifuero Fuero. So Tefifi
Speaker 1: approached him, and Tifera Fuero said no. Then tif wee
Speaker 1: if we supposedly approached him several more times, and Tefera
Speaker 1: Fuero kept saying no, and not without good reason. Tifuerfear
Speaker 1: was likely almost eighty by this point, and his health
Speaker 1: was failing. Additionally, as we know from Part one, he
Speaker 1: reputedly had a knack for recognizing traps. Some biographers suggest
Speaker 1: that the wise Chief foresaw that the Maori kingship would
Speaker 1: be a thankless position. Such a ruler would be continually
Speaker 1: hampered by being stuck in the middle of conflicting Maori,
Speaker 1: British and tribal factions. By eighteen fifty seven, things looked
Speaker 1: grim for the king movement until perhaps the most influential
Speaker 1: king maker of all made his mark. We are Amu Tamihana,
Speaker 1: the chief of another waikato Ewi or tribe, was fed
Speaker 1: up with Auckland Parliament. You may remember from the articles
Speaker 1: of the Treaty of Waitanga, Maori individuals were supposed to
Speaker 1: be afforded the rights and privileges of British citizens. In practice,
Speaker 1: this was far from the case. Quite a lot of
Speaker 1: evidence points to the colonial government severely restricting the Maori
Speaker 1: population from having a say in broader New Zealand legislation,
Speaker 1: and even hampering them from making and enforcing laws within
Speaker 1: their own tribes. A couple years earlier, we Remove had
Speaker 1: gotten so frustrated with this inadequate system that he tried
Speaker 1: to petition for Maori representation with in Auckland Parliament, but
Speaker 1: he was allegedly ignored for two full days while waiting
Speaker 1: outside the Governor's office, all while Pakeha or white European
Speaker 1: descended New Zealanders got in without any issue. The incident
Speaker 1: was essentially the final straw for We Remove, who claimed
Speaker 1: that Maori were a quote, treated like dogs by the
Speaker 1: colonialist government, and he went back to Tifuera Fuero once more.
Speaker 1: He beseeched his renowned elder. They needed change, leadership, and
Speaker 1: a collective voice. It's tricky to say what exactly persuaded
Speaker 1: Tifuera Pharoh if some nineteenth century historians are to be believed,
Speaker 1: the chief was senile by then and no longer aware
Speaker 1: of what he was agreeing to. Conversely, as some later
Speaker 1: scholars argued, a crucial factor was that Teferafwharo regularly attended
Speaker 1: church and responded well to the fact that we Remove
Speaker 1: himself was a devout Christian convert who supported his political
Speaker 1: ideas with biblical teachings. Judging by Maori oral traditions, it's
Speaker 1: also plausible that we Remove cleverly helped to reframe te
Speaker 1: Fuera Fwaro's perception of his serious ailments, rather than the
Speaker 1: storied leader's failing health being a reason he should avoid
Speaker 1: becoming king. Perhaps accepting the crown could be a final
Speaker 1: meaningful chance for him to improve Maori lives, honor his lineage,
Speaker 1: and further glorify his legacy when he wasn't quite able
Speaker 1: to show his medal on a battlefield. Whatever the case,
Speaker 1: he finally got to faraf Wharo to agree. In his
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty acceptance speech, Tifuerafwaro walked a fine line that
Speaker 1: very much seemed to be the product of considerable experience
Speaker 1: rather than rambling senility. According to modern scholars, his overriding
Speaker 1: intention was to unite and motivate Maori tribes, while simultaneously
Speaker 1: clarifying that his crowning was not a direct challenge to
Speaker 1: British power. But representatives of the British monarchy, of course,
Speaker 1: did not take it that way. The crowning of Tefuerfuero
Speaker 1: apparently made the British Governor of New Zealand, Thomas Brown,
Speaker 1: exceedingly paranoid. Brown came up with a plot to occupy
Speaker 1: a block of land in Waitara, despite supposedly being well
Speaker 1: aware that the sale had been vetoed by the ranking
Speaker 1: chief there. Assuming that this move would spark violence, he
Speaker 1: planned to then us use any firm displays of Maori
Speaker 1: defiance as a means to forcibly invade the region to
Speaker 1: emphasize British sovereignty and undermine the new Maori king when
Speaker 1: it came time to side with a monarch, who would
Speaker 1: many struggling tribes pick the eighty year old rookie who
Speaker 1: could neither control nor defend his people, or the wealthy,
Speaker 1: all powerful Queen Victoria. But Governor Brown's plan basically backfired
Speaker 1: since he evidently didn't understand Maori culture well enough. Tribes
Speaker 1: may have fought fierce wars with each other for centuries,
Speaker 1: but as some Maori writers and scholars note, they had
Speaker 1: no inherent problem with the idea of parallel or overlapping authorities.
Speaker 1: In fact, the Maori population was very used to this
Speaker 1: with their system of eui, hapu and rangatira or tribes,
Speaker 1: subtribes and chiefs. If anything, Governor Brown's shady tactics probably
Speaker 1: unified more support for Tifuera Fuero and the Kinitanga. Even so,
Speaker 1: Tifuera Fero was extremely reluctant to enter into any overt
Speaker 1: conflict with the British, he was plenty familiar with their power.
Speaker 1: In addition, for a decently long stretch before his crowning,
Speaker 1: he had apparently been on solid diplomatic terms with Queen
Speaker 1: Victoria herself, but then the land dispute in Taranaki escalated
Speaker 1: to the point that in March of eighteen sixty the
Speaker 1: British Crown directed imperial troops from Australia as well as
Speaker 1: a full warship. The HMVS Victoria, was a five hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty ton vessel powered by both sail and steam. Interestingly,
Speaker 1: it was the first warship to be built in Britain
Speaker 1: and then given to a British colony, and also the
Speaker 1: first Australian warship to ever be deployed overseas. To put
Speaker 1: it simply, this was a massive test for the fledgling
Speaker 1: Maori monarchy. Tefuerafaro's initial hesitation to act surely made some
Speaker 1: of his allies wonder which version of the legendary man
Speaker 1: they were going to get as a king. Had Tifuerafaro
Speaker 1: become wholly peaceful and passive in his elder years. After all,
Speaker 1: when he was crowned, he took the title of Potato,
Speaker 1: an apparent reference to his love for a dying wife,
Speaker 1: as opposed to something in reference to his greatness as
Speaker 1: a warrior chief. Or was the aging the king's vaunted patients,
Speaker 1: finally wearing thin because on some level he seemingly understood
Speaker 1: that no matter what he did, anger and blame would
Speaker 1: be heaped on him anyway. Ultimately, despite Tifuerfwar's side being
Speaker 1: hugely outnumbered and out gunned, or possibly even because of it,
Speaker 1: that signature warrior spirit of his finally re emerged. Her
Speaker 1: most sources, it seems unlikely that Tefwerfwear returned to Taranaki
Speaker 1: in person, but he supported Maori fighter's efforts there by
Speaker 1: sending substantial reinforcements and supplies. Tiferfarar died in June of
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty, about three months after the start of the
Speaker 1: as it was later dubbed First Taranaki War, but the
Speaker 1: tone he set for the Maori king movement came carried on.
Speaker 1: Despite Britain's resources and military power, the First Taranaki War
Speaker 1: ended in a stalemate, thanks in part to cunning guerrilla
Speaker 1: tactics by Maori warriors and the timely intervention of the
Speaker 1: Maori Monarch, though there was still plenty of strife to come,
Speaker 1: this was a huge win for the United Tribes of
Speaker 1: New Zealand. Like Tifuera Fuera wielding his digging implement against
Speaker 1: wave of attackers decades before he would become king, the
Speaker 1: Northern chiefs proved that they would never go down without
Speaker 1: a fight. All in all, Tifuerfero's legacy is pretty unique
Speaker 1: and complex. Though he was a fearsome warrior with a
Speaker 1: lengthy military career, he didn't become king through a military
Speaker 1: campaign or a hostile takeover like many other warrior monarchs. Again,
Speaker 1: he didn't even want to be king at first, as
Speaker 1: some historians have suggested. This might be why short as
Speaker 1: his reign was, he was able to partially put his
Speaker 1: ego aside in order to navigate a nearly impossible set
Speaker 1: of political circumstances. Despite his short reign, Tifuerafwaro was able
Speaker 1: to successfully found a dynasty. Technically, he was elected as
Speaker 1: king and so his successors did not have to be
Speaker 1: blood relatives, but it still worked out that way. His
Speaker 1: son took over as king and Waikato chief and oversaw
Speaker 1: further violent conflicts against the British colonial government plus other
Speaker 1: settlers and even Maori tribes allied with them in what
Speaker 1: would eventually be called the New Zealand Wars. Then his
Speaker 1: son took over after him and and so on. Currently,
Speaker 1: there is a Maori monarch descended from this line, gawai
Speaker 1: Ho no Itipo, who was crowned queen in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: In many ways, the Maori monarchy and the movement that
Speaker 1: started it are still fairly divisive and controversial, just as
Speaker 1: they were back in the nineteenth century. The New Zealand
Speaker 1: Wars roped in numerous factions and continued until eighteen seventy two,
Speaker 1: but there was essentially no outright winner. Many land and
Speaker 1: sovereignty issues are still simmering throughout the multi island nation,
Speaker 1: although conflicts are now mostly fought in courtrooms instead of
Speaker 1: on battlefields. For added context, New Zealand ended their status
Speaker 1: as a British colony in nineteen oh seven, then gradually
Speaker 1: became an independent nation that is still today part of
Speaker 1: the British Commonwealth. So in a sense, there are dual
Speaker 1: heads of state in New Zealand, the British monarch and
Speaker 1: the Maori monarch. That said, it's worth pointing out that,
Speaker 1: similarly to how many Maori chieftains neither elected nor supported
Speaker 1: to fware a pharaoh as king, many still do not
Speaker 1: recognize the Maori monarch Furthermore, as some writers acknowledge, the
Speaker 1: Maori monarchy functions in something of a ceremonial role, although
Speaker 1: the chosen monarch does have a certain amount of power
Speaker 1: and cultural significance, especially within the Waikato tribe. Given all
Speaker 1: of the hurdles, paradigm shifts, and the British crowns increasingly
Speaker 1: fraught history of land grabs, discrimination and forced assimilation in
Speaker 1: New Zealand throughout the nineteeenth century, it's easy to wonder
Speaker 1: how the monarchy that Tfuera Pharoh founded actually survived again.
Speaker 1: A lot comes down to mana as well as the
Speaker 1: related concept of tapu. Tapu essentially means sacred and under
Speaker 1: protection from attua. The Maori ancestor gods, people, places, and
Speaker 1: things can all be imbued with it. Like mana, tapu
Speaker 1: is connected to ancestry and can evolve over time. In
Speaker 1: becoming the first Maori monarch, Tifuera pharo infused tapoo into
Speaker 1: the position, making the role, at least to some tribes, sacred, untouchable,
Speaker 1: and inherently tied to the land. In other words, the
Speaker 1: king making movement may have originally been emulating the British monarchy,
Speaker 1: but in the end, they in effect created a royal
Speaker 1: structure that was uniquely Maori. That was part two of
Speaker 1: the story of Tifuera Faro's unique rise to royalty. But
Speaker 1: stick around after a brief sponsor break to learn the
Speaker 1: profoundly relevant meaning behind several key Maori words. By now
Speaker 1: you've heard quite a bit about Maori, Ewi, and Hapu
Speaker 1: tribes and subtribes, as well as the violence and tragedy
Speaker 1: that arose when these groups were separated from their generational homelands. Fittingly,
Speaker 1: these concepts are firmly connected in Maori etymology. According to
Speaker 1: the wonderfully detailed online resource Taiara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand,
Speaker 1: the word who literally means both clan and pregnant, which
Speaker 1: compellingly emphasizes the genealogical link between members of the same subtribes. Relatedly, Wuenua,
Speaker 1: the Maori word for land, can also be translated as placenta,
Speaker 1: which underscores the life giving connection between land and people. Finally,
Speaker 1: the word ewie or tribe can also refer to bones,
Speaker 1: a correlation that scholars claim exemplifies tribe's veneration for their ancestors.
Speaker 1: Noble blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and
Speaker 1: Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me
Speaker 1: Dana Schwartz. Writers for Noble Blood are Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick,
Speaker 1: Paul Jaffey, Natasha Laski, and me Danishwortz. The show is
Speaker 1: edited and produced by Jesse Funk and Nomes Griffin, with
Speaker 1: supervising producerrima Ill Kali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.