Mahanga Pihama

The 1863 invasion of the Waikato was the defining conflict of New Zealand, reinforcing the Crown’s power, entrenching one of Aotearoa’s oldest political institutions (the Kiingitanga) and resulting in land confiscations that continue to shape New Zealand today.

Mihingarangi Forbes examines the armed conflicts of the late 1800s between Māori and the military might of the British Empire in this documentary series on the bloody birth of modern Aotearoa.