Timeline of Māori battles

This timeline sets out intertribal battles involving Māori people in what is now New Zealand.

Pre-colonial time (c. 1000 to 1839)

15th century

• Ngāti Hotu suffered a major defeat at the battle of Pukekaikiore ('hill of the meal of rats') to the southwest of Lake Taupo where Ngāti Tūwharetoa devastated them, causing the few survivors to flee.
• The battle of the five forts at Kakahi: The Ngāti Hotu set up a ring of five forts around Kakahi which the Whanganui Māori attacked and took one by one until finally the last two, Otutaarua and Arikipakewa, fell. The final, brutal episode of the battle was played out on the flats between Kakahi and the Whanganui river.

17th century

• 1642, Dec: Four of Tasman's crew are killed at Wharewharangi (Murderers) Bay by Māori. Tasman's ships are approached by 11 waka as he leaves and his ships fire on them, hitting a Māori standing in one of the waka. Tasman's ships depart without landing. The Dutch chart the west of the North Island.

18th century

• 1772, 12 Jun: Marion du Fresne is killed at Tacoury's Cove, Bay of Islands by local Māori.
• 1773, 18 Dec: A skirmish at Grass Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound results in the deaths of two Māori and nine members of Cook's expedition.
• c. 1790s: The Battle of Hingakaka (sometimes Hiringakaka) was fought between two Māori armies, an allied southern North Island army and a Tainui alliance army, near Ohaupo in the Waikato in the late 18th or early 19th centuries, and was reputedly "the largest battle ever fought on New Zealand soil". - So many chiefs died in the battle that it is known as Hingakaka (the fall of parrots).

19th century pre 1839

• 1807-1845: The Musket Wars were a series of three thousand or more battles and raids fought in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands amongst Māori between 1807 and 1845, after Māori obtained muskets.
  • 1807 or 1808: Ngapuhi fight Ngāti Whātua, Te-Uri-o-Hau and Te Roroa iwi at the battle of Moremonui on the west coast of Northland, the first battle in which Māori used muskets.
  • 1821: Battle of Okoki with Potatau Te Wherowhero. Te Hiakai was shot in the battle.
  • 1825: The battle of Te Ika-a-ranganui between Ngapuhi and hapu against Ngatiwhatua, resident occupiers of the land fought upon. It was a battle of Utu.

Post-colonial time (1839+)

19th century post 1839

• New Zealand Wars
  • 1842, Jun 17: Wairau Affray
  • 1845, Mar 11: Flagstaff War
  • The Battle of Ohaeawai was fought between British forces and local Māori during the Flagstaff War in July 1845 at Ohaeawai.
  • c. 1846, May: Hutt Valley Campaign
    • 1846, Aug 6–13: Battle of Battle Hill. British troops, local militia and kūpapa pursued a Ngāti Toa force led by chief Te Rangihaeata through steep and dense bushland.
  • 1857, Apr 16: Wanganui Campaign
  • 1860, Mar to 1861, Mar: First Taranaki War
  • 1863, Jul to 1864, Apr: Invasion of the Waikato
    • 1863, Nov 20–21: The Battle of Rangiriri was a major engagement in the invasion of Waikato. More than 1400 British troops defeated about 500 warriors of the Kingitanga (Māori King Movement).
  • 1864: War in the Waikato ends with battle of Ōrākau.
  • 1864, Apr 29: Tauranga Campaign
  • 1863, May 4: Second Taranaki War
  • 1865, April to 1866, Oct: East Cape War
  • 1868, Jun to 1869, Mar: Titokowaru's War
  • 1868, Jul to 1872, May: Te Kooti's War