Transition to dependence : the Cook Islands and New Zealand colonialism to 1915, with reference to Government-Maori relations in New Zealand

Abstract

The Cook Group consists of fifteen small and scattered islands lying between Samoa to the west and the Society Islands to the east, and extending southward nearly to the Tropic of Capricorn. They are inhabited by Polynesians known as Maoris who, at the time of European contact in the early nineteenth century, numbered about 18,000. The authority structure in the islands was characterised by title holding, reinforced by mana derived from leadership in various fields - religious, political, social and economic. In all but two of the islands there were one or more tribes (vaka) led by paramount chiefs, known as ariki, who traced their descent, usually through the senior male line, to the leaders of the migrant ancestors and ultimately to the gods. In some islands there were also lesser chiefs : the mataiapo whose ancestors, in Rarotonga for example, were the immigrants among whom the land was first distributed; and the rangetira who were usually the descendants of junior chiefly lines. Apart from the religious significance of mana ariki, the continuing relationship between the chiefly ranks themselves, and between the chiefly ranks and the commoners, was based upon a complex system of reciprocal rights and obligations related to land-holding. 'In return for the fulfilment of his duties of office, the chief derived prestige and respect as well as material goods and security’, while 'his immediate household and subsidiary chiefs also stood to benefit from his authority

and prestige’.