Parihaka

Parihaka is a small community in Taranaki Region, New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre of a major campaign of non-violent resistance to European occupation of confiscated land in the area. The village was founded in 1867 by Māori prophets Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi on land seized by the government during the post-war land confiscations of the 1860s. Recognising the destructive effects of war, Te Whiti and Tohu declared they would use spiritual powers rather than weapons to claim their right to live on land they had occupied for centuries. The population of the village grew to more than...