Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi, known in Maori as Te Tiriti o Waitangi, is a founding document in the history of New Zealand, first signed on 6 February 1840 at Waitangi by Captain William Hobson, acting as consul for the British Crown, and by a number of Maori chiefs from New Zealand's North Island, with further signatures gathered from additional chiefs around the country in the following months. The treaty exists in both an English-language text and a Maori-language text, Te Tiriti, and long-running disagreement over differences between the two versions, particularly around the extent to which Maori ceded sovereignty to the British Crown, has shaped New Zealand law and politics ever since. Although not incorporated as binding domestic law, the treaty's status was given formal legislative recognition through the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, which established the Waitangi Tribunal to investigate claimed breaches of the treaty's principles, and the treaty's role in the relationship between Maori and the Crown has grown steadily more prominent in New Zealand public life since the late twentieth century.