Story: Te ture – Māori and legislation

The blue lines on this 1869 map of the North Island mark off the main areas of land that the Crown seized from its Māori owners after the wars of the 1860s. Smaller parcels of land outside these boundaries were also confiscated. The Crown's claimed grounds for these punitive confiscations were that the landowners had been 'in rebellion' against the government. However, much accessible and fertile land was selected for confiscation even though its owners had not fought against the Crown.