Road to the Treaty

This blog is about how Treaty of Waitangi was signed, what happened before it was signed. Most of the information here are missing but it kind of make sense....

 1814 - First Mission - Three lay missionaries, William Hall, Thomas Kendall, and John King, helped Samuel Marsden set up the first mission in New Zealand, at Rangihoua.

1831 - Maori petition the British government - Disorder among Europeans in New Zealand and fears of a French seizure of the country led 13 northern chiefs to ask King William IV for his protection. Missionary William Yate gave aid to the chiefs draft the letter to the King and accepted.

1833 - British Resident arrives - To protect Maori, the British settlers and its own trade interests, the British government determined James Busby as its official British Resident. He arrived in May 1833 and built a house on land he bought at Waitangi.

1835 - Declaration of Independence - Declaration of Independence of New Zealand was drawn up by British Resident James Busby without authorisation from his superiors. It declared the independence of New Zealand. By 1839 the declaration had been signed by 52 Maori chiefs. 

1837 - British decided to establish a colony - In December 1837, the British government decided in principle to take place in New Zealand to make sure that colonisation was controlled and that land transactions to deceive Maori were stopped.

1839 - Tory set sails - Tory ( the first of the New Zealand Company ships ) set sail for New Zealand in May 1839. The company had an ambitious plan to settle New Zealand, and the agents on the Tory we’re to buy land at Port Nicholson ( Wellington Harbour ).

1839 - Consul appointed - William Hobson got appointed by the British Government as consul to New Zealand in 1893.

1840 - Land purchases prohibited - Governor Gipps disallowed further private land purchases from Maori, and needed to be recognised by the authorities before buying a private land from Maori.

1840 - Treaty of Waitangi signed - Treaty of Waitangi was signed on Feb 6 1840. About 40 chiefs signed on the first day, by September 1840 another 500 chiefs around the country had signed.