{{Short description|Māori term}} {{italic title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2024}} {{mi| {{more citations needed|date=June 2025}} {{copy edit|date=June 2025}} }} {{Māori sidebar |expanded=society}} '''{{lang|mi|Tangata whenua}}''' ({{IPA|mi|ˈtaŋata ˈfɛnʉ.a}}) is a New Zealand Māori term that translates to 'people of the land'. It can refer to either a specific group of people with historical claims to a district, or more broadly, the Māori people whose ancestors have occupied the land for so many generations that they are considered to have become part of the land.
==Etymology== According to Williams's definitive ''Dictionary of the Māori Language'', {{lang|mi|tangata}} means 'man', whilst {{lang|mi|tāngata}} (with the macronised "ā") is the plural, and means 'people'.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WillDict-t1-body-d1-d12.html#n404|title=A Dictionary of the Maori Language |last=Williams |first=Herbert W. |publisher=R.E. Owen, Government Printer |year=1957|edition=6th |location=Wellington, NZ |pages=379|author-link=Herbert Williams (bishop)|orig-year=1844|via=New Zealand Electronic Text Centre}}</ref> {{lang|mi|Tangata}}—without the macron—can also mean 'people' in reference to a group with a singular identity.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}
{{lang|mi|Whenua}} means both 'land' and 'placenta' (again referencing Williams, who lists five definitions). It is an ancient Austronesian word with cognates across the Malayo-Polynesian world, from Malay {{lang|ms|benua}} (now meaning 'continent'), Visayan *''banwa'' and to Rapa Nui ''henua''; ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *''banua''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://acd.clld.org/cognatesets/25129#2/-60.8/162.8|title=*''banua'': inhabited land, territory supporting the life of a community|last1=Blust|first1=Robert|author-link1=Robert Blust|last2=Trussel|first2=Stephen|website=Austronesian Comparative Dictionary|date=2010|publisher=Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology|access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref> Unlike European thought, wherein people own land, in the Māori worldview the land is regarded as a mother to the people.{{cn|date=August 2025}} The relationship to the land is not dissimilar to that of the foetus to the placenta. In addition, there are certain Māori rituals involving burying the afterbirth of a newborn in the ancestral land, which may further illustrate the word {{lang|mi|whenua}} meaning both 'land' and 'placenta'.{{original research inline|date=August 2025}}
==Contexts== * In the context of tribal descent and ownership of land, {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} are the people who descend from the first people to settle the land of the district; the {{lang|mi|mana}} may reside with later arrivals. * At a particular {{lang|mi|marae}}, the {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} are the owners of the {{lang|mi|marae}}, in contradistinction to the {{lang|mi|manuhiri}} ('guests'). After the welcoming ceremony on a {{lang|mi|marae}}, the guests may be afforded the temporary, honorary status of {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}}, and may even be invited to participate as locals as the ceremonies continue. * {{lang|mi|Tangata whenua}} has also become a New Zealand English term with specific legal status.
==Law and custom== The indigenous peoples of New Zealand may be divided into three levels of kinship, on which traditional governance was based.
=== {{lang|mi|Whānau}} === The smallest level, {{lang|mi|whānau}}, is what is now considered the extended family of the Māoris, descended from a common great-grandparent. Traditionally a {{lang|mi|whānau}} would hold in common their food store (their forest or bush for hunting birds and gathering or growing plant foods, and a part of the sea, a river or a lake for gathering eels, fish, shellfish, and other seafood). These food stores were fiercely protected: when one's resources could no longer support a growing {{lang|mi|whānau}}, war with a neighbouring tribe might eventuate.
=== {{lang|mi|Hapū}} === The next level, {{lang|mi|hapū}} ('sub-tribe'), is a group of several related {{lang|mi|whānau}}, and was traditionally the primary governance unit. In war, and when decisions needed to be made in negotiations with outside tribes, {{lang|mi|whānau}} leaders would gather and the {{lang|mi|hapū}} would make collective decisions.
=== {{lang|mi|Iwi}} === Several (or many) {{lang|mi|hapū}} can trace their ancestry, usually on the male line, back to a particular {{lang|mi|waka}}, the ocean-going canoe upon which the common ancestors of that tribe arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, and this unified level is called the {{lang|mi|iwi}}. Until the British arrived, the {{lang|mi|iwi}} was not a governance unit, it was called a {{lang|mi|Wakameninga}}. An example of this is in {{langr|mi|He Whakaputanga}} Declaration of Independence 1835 with the {{langr|mi|Ngā Puhi Whakaminenga}} of Rangatira signing a contract with King George as protector of {{langr|mi|Niu Tireni}}, at that time {{langr|mi|Ngā Puhi Rohe}}. The {{lang|mi|Whakameninga}} is a spiritual union between {{langr|mi|Io Matua Kore}}, the Supreme Creator, and the {{lang|mi|Hapū Rangatira}} with no third-party interloper interference and attendance was voluntary depending on the issue {{lang|mi|Hapū}} could voice their non-consent by not sending their Rangatira. {{langr|mi|Am Iwi}} is a New Zealand Government–controlled Statutory Trust.
However, under British and subsequent New Zealand law, the {{lang|mi|Hapū}} and {{lang|mi|Whakameninga}} were replaced by the CROWN intermediary agencies called {{lang|mi|iwi}} which were formed by statute so settlements could be negotiated between Tangata, Whenua and Statutory CROWN entities to be recognized in statutes of New Zealand Governments legislative framework and under the Treaty of Waitangi these {{lang|mi|Hapū}} and {{lang|mi|Iwi}} statutory entities are accorded Treaty rights and obligations under New Zealand law, when they are recognised as Māori they are recognised as "{{langr|mi|Tangata/Whenua}}" within statutes.
{{lang|mi|Iwi}} trusts under the New Zealand Government authority co-ordinate Statutory {{lang|mi|Hapū}} Trusts that have to provide a provable relationship with a specific area of geography in unbroken occupation, and if this is acknowledged by the national or local authority, they become the legal {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} under statutory authority. Some areas may have several {{lang|mi|Hapū}} with pre-existing rights as the {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}}, which can make the process more complex for non Māori entities who are creating working relationships. Some of these {{lang|mi|Hapū}} have not signed settlements, which causes more complexity.
When, for example, a major real-estate development is proposed to the territorial authority, because of the potential desecration of burial sites which are very numerous over New Zealand's topography the {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} must be consulted,<ref>{{cite web |title=Which Groups should be Consulted? This us why NZ Govt needs a data base of Hapu to contact if their area is being violated by earthworks as the potential is for dead loved ones with artefacts still in their Graves being exposed during excavations. |url=http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/rma/guidelines-consulting-tangata-whenua-under-rma-update-case-law/6-which-groups |publisher=Ministry for the Environment |access-date=15 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Māori and the RMA |url=http://www.environmentguide.org.nz/rma/maori-and-the-rma/ |website=New Zealand Environment Guide |access-date=15 January 2019}}</ref> although the mere fact that "consultation" take place does not mean that the views of the {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} will necessarily be listened to. When bones are found, the {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} are supposed to be called.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Timutimu |first1=Ripeka |title=Human bones unearthed at construction site |url=https://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/human-bones-unearthed-construction-site |access-date=15 January 2019 |work=Maori Television |date=21 May 2018}}</ref> In addition to these sorts of legally mandated requirements, when a person wishes to have land blessed, or when a sudden death occurs, an elder ({{lang|mi|kaumātua}} or {{lang|mi|tohunga}}) of the {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} may be asked to perform a cleansing ritual.
== {{lang|mi|Tangata tiriti}} == The notion of {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} is sometimes contrasted with {{lang|mi|tangata tiriti}}—literally, 'the people of the treaty'.
Tangata tiriti refers to non-indigenous New Zealanders who are in the country by virtue of the Treaty of Waitangi - a category which some see as inadequate to describe more recent arrivals to New Zealand whose ancestors had nothing to do with the Treaty or its obligations.<ref>https://southerncross.news/the-problem-with-the-term-tangata-tiriti/</ref><ref>https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/rising-diversity-and-unsettled-equity-issues-new-zealand</ref>
Some see Tangata tiriti as close to (but not necessarily synonymous with) the term {{lang|mi|pākehā}}, the peoples who have arrived through the auspices of the monarchs of Great Britain and then of New Zealand.
As used notably by Judge Eddie Durie, the notion of {{lang|mi|tangata tiriti}} underlines partnership and acceptance.<ref>Michael King, ''The Penguin History of New Zealand'', 2003, {{ISBN|0-14-301867-1}}, p.167</ref>
=={{lang|mi|Mataawaka}}== '''{{lang|mi|Mataawaka}}''' or '''{{lang|mi|mātāwaka}}''' is a term for a kinship group,<ref>[https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/3759 mātāwaka - Te Aka Māori Dictionary] viewed 15 June 2025</ref> but has acquired a contrasting meaning referring to Māori people living in an area who are not part of a {{lang|mi|tangata whenua}} group.<ref>see for example [https://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/consol_act/lgca2009311/s4.html ''Local Government (Auckland Council) Act'' 2009 - Sect 4]: ""mataawaka" means Māori who— a) live in Auckland; and b) are not in a mana whenua group"</ref>
==See also== * Resource Management Act 1991
==Notes== <references/>
==References== * A. Salmond, ''Hui, A Study of Maori Ceremonial Gatherings''. Reed, Wellington, 1975.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tangata Whenua}} Category:Iwi and hapū Category:Māori culture Category:Māori words and phrases Tangata whenua Category:Treaty of Waitangi Category:Māori society