King Country

Inland from the North Taranaki Bight (west coast), between Mokau and Kawhia, extends the rugged and infertile area known as the King Country. It is a region of karstic limestone, with deep gorges, intricate karstic cave systems and bizarre rock formations.

The first Europeans landed in this area in the early 19th C. on the wild west coast at Mokau and Kawhia. They traded with the Maoris, exchanging guns for flax and dried tattooed heads, which were much sought after in Europe. Missionaries taught the natives European farming methods, and soon wheat was being exported from Kawhia.

Between Mokau and Kawhia lived the warlike Te Maniapoto tribes, who believed that their ancestors had arrived here in the Tainui ancestral canoe. They were keen partisans of the Maori King Movement and supported the rebels in Taranaki and Waikato against the government. After the defeat of the rebels at Orakau the Maori king, whose residence had been at Ngaruawahia on the Waikato River, sought refuge in this area. The Ngati-Maniapoto tribes held on to their land, and settlers did not dare to venture into the King Country.

In 1881 the mighty Maori chief Rewi Maniapoto made peace with the government. He sold and leased land to the whites, against the will of the Maoris, and permitted the construction of a railroad through the King Country.