Story: Kāwanatanga – Māori engagement with the state

This is the original Māori translation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed by more than 40 northern chiefs on 6 February 1840. (Other chiefs signed this copy of the treaty later.) The term 'kāwanatanga' appears twice in the preamble to the treaty, where it is the translation first for 'Sovereign authority', and then for 'Civil Government'. In the treaty's first article, kāwanatanga is the translation for 'all the rights and powers of Sovereignty'.