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Story: Ngā whakataunga tiriti – Treaty of Waitangi settlement process

South Island land sales, 1844–1864

  • 1844

    1844

  • 1848

    1848

  • 1849

    1849

  • 1854

    1854

  • 1856

    1856

  • 1857

    1857

  • 1859

    1859

  • 1860

    1860

  • 1864

    1864

This interactive map shows how almost the entire land area of the South Island passed out of Māori ownership during 20 years in the mid-19th century. The sales were based on the Crown promising to provide South Island Māori with benefits such as schools, hospitals and land reserves. Its failure to honour such undertakings resulted in a large treaty claim settlement 150 years after the land losses began.

Using this item

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Reference: Bronwyn Dalley and Gavin McLean, Frontier of Dreams. Auckland: Hachette Livre NZ, 2005, p. 157

Source: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1865, G-3.

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How to cite this page

Richard S. Hill, Ngā whakataunga tiriti – Treaty of Waitangi settlement process – Different paths to settlement, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/33051/south-island-land-sales-1844-1864 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Richard S. Hill, published 1 June 2012, updated 1 April 2023.