Skip to main content

Story: Ngāti Toarangatira

Kāpiti Island, a natural fortress

Image
Kapiti Island, a natural fortress

Kāpiti Island was the most impregnable natural fortress in the south of the North Island. For that reason, Te Rauparaha, one of the leading chiefs of Ngāti Toa, decided to conquer it when the tribe moved from Kāwhia to the Wellington region in the early 1820s.

Using this item

GNS Science

Reference: 26200/22

by Lloyd Homer

Permission of GNS Science must be obtained before any use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Mīria Pōmare, Ngāti Toarangatira – Migration from the north, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/3912/kapiti-island-a-natural-fortress (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Mīria Pōmare, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 March 2017.