In 1870, a Native Land Court was established to adjudicate competing land claims; by this time most Māori had returned to Taranaki. The court ruled in favour of the Māori, awarding them 97% of the land.The judge ruled that since the Moriori had been conquered by Māori they did not have ownership rights of the land.
Pretty much every piece of NZ had been taken off someone by force at some point, before Europeans even landed. The Maori tribes had a number of wars between each other over territory.
Ahahahaha, wtf
Pretty much every piece of NZ had been taken off someone by force at some point, before Europeans even landed. The Maori tribes had a number of wars between each other over territory.
I’d think that’s the case for pretty much everywhere on Earth.
It’s only fairly recently that we started exchanging coins for land rather than just killing whoever was on it.
The land court’s purpose was literally (as stated in the establishing legislation) to oversee the “extinguishment or Māori title”.
Setting conquest as a precedent of losing your land was deliberate.