Treaty of Waitangi

1.What is the treaty of waitangi?

A treaty is an agreement between two or more groups of people. The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty that was signed on the 6th February 1840 in Waitangi, New Zealand. The treaty was between the British government and more than 500 Maori chiefs.

Why did New Zealand need a treaty?

The whalers and the traders who came to New Zealand could do anything they liked because there was no laws. They were breaking laws in their own countries. So the Maori wanted the treaty so that they could control the whalers and traders. They also wanted the protection of the British against the other European countries. The British wanted a treaty so they could control the land sales and to have sovereignty or authority over the country.

Was the treaty fair?

The treaty was not fair because the maori and europeans had different opinions about what was in the treaty. There was an English version and a te reo maori version. Most of the chiefs signed the maori version as that was their language. The treaties were different in each of the languages so they were agreeing to different things.

Is the treaty still important today?

The treaty is still important today because if it wasn’t here some of us might not even be alive. There could have been more wars between the maori and pakeha. People might not be speaking te reo maori because the treaty said that te reo is a treasure and should be used. The treaty protects the partnership between the maori and the pakeha and our bicultural nation.