Editing Musket Wars (section)

== Historiography ==
Historian [[James Belich (historian)|James Belich]] has suggested "Potato Wars" as a more accurate name for these battles, due to the revolution the [[potato]] brought to the Māori economy.<ref name="nzhistory">[http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/musket-wars/overview Overview – Musket Wars], New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Updated 15 October 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2010.</ref> Historian Angela Ballara says that new foods made some aspects of the wars different.<ref name="nzhistory"/> Potatoes were introduced in New Zealand in 1769<ref>[http://www.eu-sol.net/public/plant-histories/potato-history/spread-of-the-potato Potato history, Spread of the potato] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211020817/http://www.eu-sol.net/public/plant-histories/potato-history/spread-of-the-potato |date=11 December 2008 }}, Eu-Sol, (European Commission) Updated 15 September. Retrieved 15 September 2011.</ref> and they became a key staple with better food-value for weight than [[sweet potato|kūmara]] (sweet-potato), and easier cultivation and storage. Unlike the kūmara with their associated ritual requirements, potatoes were tillable by slaves and women and this freed up men to go to war.<ref name="basil" />

Belich saw this as a logistical revolution, with potatoes effectively fueling the long-range ''[[taua]]'' that made the musket wars different from any fighting that had come before. Slaves captured in the raids were put to work tending potato patches, freeing up labour to create even larger ''taua''. The duration of the raids was also longer by the 1820s; it became common for warriors to be away for up to a year because it was easier to grow a series of potato crops.