Story: Death rates and life expectancy

Golgotha or Korokota

Golgotha or Korokota

This sign marks a place near Whanganui which Anglican missionary Richard Taylor called Golgotha – meaning place of great suffering – after the hill on which Jesus Christ was crucified. The Māori transliteration is Korokota. Over 400 local Māori were killed there in an 1829 battle with a force led by Te Rauparaha. Despite such incidents, the death rate between 1810 and 1840 from musket warfare was small compared with that from introduced diseases.

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Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Photograph by Jock Phillips

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How to cite this page:

Ian Pool, 'Death rates and life expectancy - Effects of colonisation on Māori', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/26584/golgotha-or-korokota (accessed 20 April 2024)

Story by Ian Pool, published 5 May 2011, reviewed & revised 14 Mar 2019