The Treaty of Waitangi, granting British sovereignty…
February 1840 CE
It is a document of central importance to the history and political constitution of the state of New Zealand, and will be highly significant in framing the political relations between New Zealand's government and the Māori population.
The Treaty is written at a time when British colonists are pressuring the Crown to establish a colony in New Zealand, and when some Māori leaders have petitioned the British for protection against French forces.
It is drafted with the intention of establishing a British Governor of New Zealand, recognizing Māori ownership of their lands, forests and other possessions, and giving Māori the rights of British subjects.
Itis intended to ensure that when the declaration of British sovereignty over New Zealand is made by Lieutenant Governor William Hobson in May 1840, the Māori people will not feel that their rights have been ignored.
Once it has been written and translated, it is first signed by Northern Māori leaders at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, and subsequently copies of the Treaty will be taken around New Zealand and over the following months many other chiefs will sign.
Around five hundred and thirty to five hundred and forty Māori, at least thirteen of them women, sign the Treaty of Waitangi, despite some Māori leaders cautioning against it.
An immediate result of the Treaty is that Queen Victoria's government gains the sole right to purchase land.
In total there are nine signed copies of the Treaty of Waitangi including the sheet signed on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi.
The text of the Treaty includes a preamble and three articles.
It is bilingual, with the Māori text translated from the English.
Article one of the English text cedes "all rights and powers of sovereignty" to the Crown.
Article two establishes the continued ownership of the Māori over their lands, and establishes the exclusive right of preemption of the Crown.
Article three gives Māori people full rights and protections as British subjects.
However, the English text and the Māori text differ in meaning significantly, particularly in relation to the meaning of having and ceding sovereignty.
These discrepancies will lead to disagreements in the decades following the signing, eventually culminating in the New Zealand Wars.
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