Story: Te Tiriti o Waitangi – the Treaty of Waitangi

Zoom in to read details of the original version of te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi}, signed by 43 rangatira at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands, on 6 February 1840. The missionary William Colenso noted that ‘not many chiefs of first rank’ signed at Waitangi. However, Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson regarded this original signing as the ‘de facto’ treaty. Later signings were simply seen as confirming it. This treaty sheet was signed at eight further locations and eventually more than 213 signatures were collected on it.

Read more about the people who signed this sheet. (NZ History)

(Quoted in Claudia Orange, The Treaty of Waitangi. Wellington: Allen and Unwin, 1987, p. 56)