Editing Musket Wars (section)

{{Short description|Armed conflicts between Māori tribes in New Zealand before 1845}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}{{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2024}}

{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict    = The Musket Wars
| partof      =
| image             = {{multiple image|border=infobox|perrow=2/2/2|total_width=300
| image1=MaoriWardanceKahuroa.jpg
| alt1=
| image2=HekeKawiti1846.jpg
| alt2=
| image3=Hong-hika-war-canoe.jpg
| alt3=in the
| image4=Moriori people.jpg
| alt4=
| image5=RANGIHAEATA'S PAH, WITH THE ISLAND of MANA AND THE OPPOSITE SHORES OF COOK'S STRAITS, The New Zealanders Illustrated, 1847.jpg
| alt5=
| image6=Pōtatau Te Wherowhero by George French Angas.jpg
| alt6=}}'''Clockwise from top left:''' {{flatlist|
* A haka using English-style [[Musket|muskets]] and [[Hatchet|hatchets]] as props
* Ngāpuhi nobleman [[Te Ruki Kawiti]] (right) with [[Hōne Heke]] and his wife [[Hōne Heke#Biography|Hariata]]
* Descendants of the [[Moriori]] who survived [[Moriori genocide|genocidal invasion]] by [[Ngāti Mutunga]] and [[Ngāti Tama]]
* [[Pōtatau Te Wherowhero]], prominent [[Waikato Tainui]] military commander who later was crowned the first [[Māori King Movement|Māori King]]
* [[Te Rangihaeata|Te Rangihaeata's]] [[pā]] at Mana after the [[Ngāti Toa]] [[Te Rauparaha#Migration|conquest]] of the [[Kāpiti Coast]]
* A Ngāpuhi [[waka taua]] returning from a raid on the [[Bay of Plenty]]
}}
| caption     = 
| date        = 1806–1845
| place       = New Zealand
| territory   =
| result      = Territory gained and lost between various tribes
| status      =
| combatant1  = Various [[Māori people|Māori]] tribes
| strength1   = 
| casualties1 = Up to 40,000 Māori<br />30,000 enslaved or forced to migrate<br />300 [[Moriori]] deaths, 1700 Moriori enslaved
| notes       = 
}}

The '''Musket Wars''' were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout [[New Zealand]] (including the [[Chatham Islands]]) among [[Māori people|Māori]] between 1806 and 1845,{{sfn|Crosby|1999|p=1}} after Māori first obtained [[musket]]s and then engaged in an intertribal [[arms race]] in order to gain territory or seek revenge for past defeats.<ref>{{cite book | last =Bohan | first =Edmund | title = Climates of War: New Zealand Conflict 1859–69 | publisher = Hazard Press | date = 2005 | location = Christchurch | page = 32 |  isbn =  9781877270963}}</ref> The battles resulted in the deaths of between 20,000 and 40,000 people and the enslavement of tens of thousands of Māori and significantly altered the ''[[rohe]]'', or tribal territorial boundaries, before the signing of the [[Treaty of Waitangi]] in 1840.<ref name="basil">{{cite web  | url =http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/musket-wars | title = Musket wars | last =Keane | first = Basil | date = 2012 | website = Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand | publisher = Ministry for Culture and Heritage | access-date = 4 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="sinclair">{{cite book | last =Sinclair | first =Keith| title = A History of New Zealand | publisher =Penguin | edition =2000 | year = 2000 | location =Auckland | pages =41–42 | isbn =978-0-14-029875-8}}</ref> The Musket Wars reached their peak in the 1830s,{{sfn|Crosby|1999|p=23}} with smaller conflicts between [[iwi]] continuing until the mid-1840s; some historians argue the [[New Zealand Wars]] were (commencing with the [[Wairau Affray]] in 1843 and [[Flagstaff War]] in 1845) a continuation of the Musket Wars.{{sfn|O'Malley|2019|p=19}} The increased use of muskets in intertribal warfare led to changes in the design of [[pā]] fortifications, which later benefited Māori when engaged in battles with colonial forces during the New Zealand Wars.{{sfn|O'Malley|2019|p=19}}

[[Ngāpuhi]] chief [[Hongi Hika]] in 1818 used newly acquired muskets to launch devastating raids from his [[Northland Region|Northland]] base into the [[Bay of Plenty]], where local Māori were still relying on traditional weapons of wood and stone. In the following years he launched equally successful raids on ''[[iwi]]'' in [[Auckland]], [[Thames, New Zealand|Thames]], [[Waikato]] and [[Lake Rotorua]],<ref name="basil" /> taking large numbers of his enemies as slaves, who were put to work cultivating and dressing [[Flax in New Zealand|flax]] to trade with Europeans for more muskets. His success prompted other ''iwi'' to procure firearms in order to mount effective methods of defence and deterrence and the spiral of violence peaked in 1832 and 1833, by which time it had spread to all parts of the country except the inland area of the [[North Island]] later known as the [[King Country]] and remote bays and valleys of [[Fiordland]] in the [[South Island]]. In 1835, the fighting went offshore as members of [[Ngāti Mutunga]] and [[Ngāti Tama]] [[Moriori genocide|invaded and murdered]] the [[Moriori people|Moriori]] of Rēkohu in a genocide.

With as many as 40,000 killed over a 40-year period, the death toll of the Musket Wars was absolutely unprecedented. Historian [[Michael King (historian)|Michael King]] suggested the term "holocaust" could be applied to the period;<ref name="king">{{cite book | author=Michael King | title=The Penguin History of New Zealand | year= 2003 |pages = 131–139| isbn=978-0-14-301867-4 | publisher= Penguin Books}}</ref> another historian, [[Angela Ballara]], has questioned the validity of the term "musket wars", suggesting the conflict was no more than a continuation of Māori ''[[Tikanga Māori|tikanga]]'' (custom), but more destructive because of the widespread use of firearms.<ref name="watters" /> The wars have been described as an example of the "fatal impact" of indigenous contact with Europeans.<ref name="watters">{{cite web  | url = http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/new-zealands-19th-century-wars/the-musket-wars | title =Musket wars | last =Watters | first =Steve | date = 2015 | website = New Zealand History | publisher = Ministry for Culture and Heritage | access-date = 5 November 2015}}</ref>