Causes of the Treaty
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1. Lawlessness
lawlessness this was one of the main reason why the treaty was the treaty was signed . This lawlessness was mainly found in the kororareka. This was because these area were the densely european populated . The lawlessness consisted of prostitution and constant violence around Kororareka led to the place to be described as the “hellhole of the pacific” . New Zealand was even described as a brothel by us consul john b williams The Lawlessness was brought to concern by the Maori but it was so bad that they had to wrote a letter to the king busby was sent he initially did not achieve very much and he was often ridiculed for not having power he was not very popular with the Europeans or the natives and was often described as a “ Man O war without guns” . Busby’s first official action was to design a flag for New Zealand in which he invited some chiefs to pick a flag design . _Busby’s second action was he created a “Declaration of Independence Of New Zealand “ also known as the He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene in 1835 .This Document was signed by 52 chiefs at the time and stated that all power and sovereignty belonged to chiefs “, with all sovereign power and authority resting with the hereditary chiefs and tribes.”._ This was describrd by Historian James Belich as extreme frontier chaos The second reason why the treaty was signed was because of the fear of the French this have been due to the negative interaction with in 1769 with Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne and Jean-François-Marie de Surville which resulted in a tragic ending for the French with them being either killed or eaten by Maori people .The decision may have also have been influenced by the arrival of Charles baron De Thierry arrived in North island where he arrange to buy 40,000 acres of land with Thomas Kendall . De Thierry would then later travel to the French and Dutch in order to get support for the annexation of New Zealand but De thierry was rejected . In 1836 De thierry would return to New Zealand and crown himself as the king of New Zealand “As part of this grandiose scheme he assumed the title, “Sovereign Chief of New Zealand” With the initial arrival of De thierry bought fear among the Maori people that the french would take over that there would a repeat of past events . This resulted in the the signing of the treaty because the british felt the urgency to make New Zealand a British colony . The third cause of the treaty was due to the Missionaries concern ,they feared that due to the increasing number of europeans settler more problems would occur. One of their main concerns was the behavior of the europeans and how it was negatively affecting the Maori communities , they also feared that the french would plan to annex New Zealand . Consequences of the Treaty One of the main consequences was that of the power play between the two races and after the signing of the treaty the British/ Pakeha it was clear to see that the Europeans outnumbered the Maori people as it increased from 2000 europeans to 730,0000 by the 1900's while Maori decreased from 80,000 to just 40,000 by the 1900's that half of the population lost to disease and warefare casued by the arrival of the Europeans . This was one of the main consequences that occurred , many incidents had occurred due to the treaty for example the Wairau incident that occurred in 1843 that resulted in 22 european deaths “In the fracas that broke out, up to five more Māori were killed; 22 Europeans were killed, including nine who had surrendered, in utu (revenge) for the Māori deaths.”Other incidents such as Hone Heke cutting down the British flag pole between 1844-1845 ,this happened at least 4 times .Heke did this because he believed that it was a symbol of the british status over the maori people . A major consequence that the treaty caused was the amount of wars and disputes in the country .This event was known as the Flag staff wars . A few years later Hone Heke and Kawiti would then lead the their tribes against the British troops in 1845 up in the north " in 1845 British troops and their Māori allies fought against Māori led by Hōne Heke and Kawiti after these chiefs’ forces sacked Kororāreka"_ Land Another major consequence that occurred was the increase of land sold to the Europeans and we saw particularly when the New Zealand company wanted to promote and establish more European residency this was led by a man called Edward Wakefield . Wakefield in a long with the New Zealand Company founded cities like Nelson , New Plymouth and Wanganui in 1837-1858. During these sale of Land there were many unfair trade for example the event named the Kemp purchase . This was when 20,000,000 acres of land was bought from the Ngaitahu for an unfair prices of just 2000 pounds "he aggregate area of the block included within the above-named boundaries exceeds 20,000,000 acres. The price paid was £2,000, and land to the extent of 6,359 acres was set apart as reserves for the Natives shortly after the sale."_ Historian ,Mr.Roger believes that just after the the initial signing that the Maori werent really aware of what they signed themselves up for and it took 2 to 3 years before they fully understood the consequences of their actions "they didn't realisethat they'd given away ttheir country at that stage I don't think. |