Te Rauparaha

Te Rauparaha was a paramount chief of the Ngati Toa iwi of New Zealand who, in the 1820s, led his people on a major migration south from their traditional Kawhia homeland to the Cook Strait region, using access to European muskets to become one of the most powerful and feared military leaders of the Musket Wars period among Maori. From his base on Kapiti Island he extended Ngati Toa influence across much of the lower North Island and into the northern South Island through a combination of warfare and alliance, and he is also credited as the composer of the haka "Ka Mate," which entered wide New Zealand recognition after it was later adopted as the pre-match haka of the national rugby team. His later years were marked by conflict with the colonial government, which captured and held him without trial for roughly a year following the Wairau Affray of 1843, an episode still cited in later reassessments of colonial-era Maori and Crown relations. He died in 1849, by then reconciled to some degree with colonial authorities, and remains one of the most significant Maori leaders of the pre-Treaty and early colonial period.