Page 8 - Puhipi

The Settlement of Aotearoa

The third settlement period is the one which looms the largest in Maori history. It is

known as the Great Migration, The Fleet, or to the Maori people, Te Heke.

From the leaders of the main canoes the chiefly families of Maoridom trace their descent
and even today deem it right and proper on ceremonial occasions to state publicly from
whom they are descended and by what line of illustrious warrior ancestors.

The date of the Great Migration has long been accepted as the middle of the 14 century
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from genealogical calculations. While the expedition is often spoken of as a fleet, on
studying the stories, it does not seem likely that they all travelled together, although it

seems certain that some did because of accounts of one vessel being wrecked and the
crew taken aboard another. Various incidents preserved by the descendants of the
migrants indicated that the migration was preceded by fighting and bitterness in the

homeland. An examination of the traditions would indicate that increasing population
placed a severe strain on land and food supplies, with competition and quarrelling as a
result. The land from which the Maori people came was known by them as Hawaiki.
Although this was a name used in many parts of the Pacific in various forms, analysts
of tradition consider that the Society Islands were the dispersal centre and that

Hawaiki was the island now called Rai’atea. As explained earlier, it is also known in
Maori tradition as Rangiatea.

The canoes frequently appear to have been referred to as double ones, that is to say two
large vessels lashed together with some form of platform in the cross members and with

a cabin of sorts on the platform. Others may have been single or double outrigger craft.
Te Rangihiroa considered that the average length would be about seventy feet although
some Polynesian canoes seen after European contact measured a hundred feet and more.
Food and water were of course carried and at least some of the vessels brought plants,
seeds and livestock such as dogs.

The traditional canoes of the fleet were named Tainui, Te Arawa, Mataatua,

Kurahaupo, Tokomaru, Aotea & Takitimu. Another noted canoe of the same period is
Horouta.

The Tainui canoe whose leader was Hoturoa left Hawaiki after trouble had broken out
over land. One tradition tells a false start was made but a sea bird warned Hoturoa of
an impending storm and the canoe returned to harbour. The expedition then waited

until Hoturoa had obtained the services of a priest who could by his prayers obtain for
them a safe passage. The priest who should have accompanied them, Ngatoro-i-Rangi
had by a trick been taken aboard the Arawa canoe.

Landfall in Aotearoa was made at Whangaparaoa near Cape Runaway and the story
goes that by a stratagem Hoturoa was able to convince the other canoe captains that

he had arrived first. This was considered important in the old days and over the