Encircled Lands Te Urewera, 1820-1921

For Europeans during the nineteenth century, the Urewera was a remote and savagely enticing wilderness; for those who lived there, it was a sheltering heartland. This history documents the first hundred years of the "Rohe Potae" (the 'encircled lands' of the Urewera) following European contact. Early in the period the terrain was criss-crossed by missionaries and (from 1866) by government troops. In 1866-67 large areas were taken by confiscation of forced cession. At the end of the fighting in 1872, by the agreed terms of peace, the Urerewa became an autonomous district, governed by its own leaders. It's existence as a separate tribal district was formally ratified in 1896.